Losing My Religion
by Oldest Soul
Summary: It would be easy to say that it was love at first sight, that Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy dropped everything and were kissing in the hallway by the end of the Sorting. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Here is the story of Rose and Scorpius, and how they Romeo-and-Julieted their way through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
1. Here Comes the Sun

**ok so this is actually a rewrite of my first fanfic (on a different account) it's about rose and scorpius. cuz who can't love them?! I believe sometime later there will be a time skip and we will jump into 6th year or somewhere around there...yup. **

**also, i realize that in the canon, Hugo is younger than rose and has Weasley hair, but here I have made him the same age as james and he has brown hair...**

**please r&r I will luv u forever :)**

Chapter 1

"I knew it!" Rose shrieked, handing a couple of small bronze coins to the fierce-looking Hogwarts Horned owl, then quickly pulling her hand out of reach of the sharp-looking beak. "I _knew_ I wasn't a Squib!" she waved the white envelope high above her head, shooting a triumphant look at her older brother, Hugo, who had been trying for years to make her believe she was as non-magical as the legendary Dursleys; Uncle Harry's relatives whom she'd only heard stories about.

"I wouldn't get your hopes up, Rose." Hugo replied gravely. He shook his head sadly, causing his light brown hair to swish back and forth, "They send letters to Squibs as well, you know. To make their Squibness official."

"Liar." Rose snorted as she dashed into the kitchen shouting, "Mum! Mum! Look I've got my letter I've got it!"

"That's wonderful, darling, We're going to Diagon Alley on Saturday. Here, take this to the table – your father will be home in a few." Hermione thrust a plate of baked chicken into Rose's arms – a muggle recipe, but good nevertheless, - then pointed her wand at a pot on the stove. "_Incendio!" _The burner flared to life happily as Rose placed the chicken on the table.

"And set the table too, will you?" Her mother's voice emulated from the fridge, accompanied by the exasperated whisper of, "Oh, forget it – _Accio_ cheese!"

"Aww, but Mum, it's Hugo's turn to set the table." Rose whined, "Besides, don't I get special privileges? Today is a special day for me, you know." She reminded Hermione, tapping her envelope on the edge of the kitchen counter.

"Well, are you going to open it or not?" Hugo asked boredly, arriving on the scene. He was going into his third year at Hogwarts and his thirteenth birthday was _only_ seven months away – March twenty-third, thus, he was of the opinion that everyone else was below him. Especially his kid-sister; a lowly first-year.

Rose tore open the letter in response, only looking up when the fireplace flared green and a tall, red-haired man appeared in the flames.

"Dad!" she wasted no time in spreading the news, "Look what I've got!" it came by the owl post just now!"

"Hey, Rosebud." Ron grinned, stepping out of the fire and grinning at his daughter. Everyone said that both Rose and Hugo looked more like their mother (and in the case of Hugo, Hermione's mother), but unlike Hugo, Rose had inherited the trademark Weasley hair. Curly and carrot orange, it was currently collected in a single braid down her back, though a few rebellious wisps had managed to break free of their imprisonment and were now roaming free around her face.

"So you got your letter then? Good for you…what's for dinner?"

…..

"Muuuummm," Rose groaned, chewing the sleeve of her sweater in agitation, "When are we going to goooo?"

"Soon, Rose." Hermione sighed, "We have to finish your lists first. Oh, do you think Neville wants the 2013 edition of _Plants and Herbs of the Wizarding World: Book 3 _or the 2015 edition?"

"I don't think it really matters." Hugo put in. "And will you stop calling the teachers by their first names? It's…weird."

"Hugo! Of _course_ it matters!" Hermione said in exasperation, ignoring this last comment, "What if the differences between the two books cause a mishap on your O.W.L. scores?!"

"Mum, my O.W.L.s aren't for two more years." Hugo grumbled.

"_You need to start with good habits now!_ When you apply for a job they will look at your school records! I _don't_ want to hear that you've been stealing from Pansy Parkinson's private stores to make a love potion for Elaine DeLacour this year, do you hear me?!"

Hugo sulked and mumbled something that sounded like "Yes, Mum."

Rose giggled; she remembered the letter home about that particular incident quite well. Hugo and their cousins, James and Fred, had attempted to make a love potion last year for one of Victoire's cousins, Elaine DeLacour. The result had been a highly acidic concoction that had reduced Hugo's cauldron to a lump of pewter, ruined the carpet in their dormitory, and had required the services of specially trained house elves to remove the smell. Professor Parkinson had been furious to discover that the stolen ingredients from her cupboard, some very rare, had gone to such a hopeless cause.

"I think we'll get the 2015 edition just to be sure." Hermione decided, scribbling it down on the list. She added a few more things before checking it over three times, then nodding in a satisfied manner.

"Hey Mum, do you think I can get a pet?" Rose asked hopefully, sending an envious glance at Hugo's owl, Newton. Newton was a magnificent Tawny Owl, and he was quite taken himself. He eyed Rose beadily from his cage, fluffing up his feathers and then ducking his head to preen under his left wing.

"We'll see." Her mother answered, and Rose couldn't tell from her face which way 'we'll see' was more likely to go.

….

"Diagon Alley." The fire rose and turned a violent shade of lime as Rose stepped into it. There was the usual twisting, roller-coaster sensation, and she landed in one of the public floo fireplaces at the end of Diagon Alley next to her mother and brother.

"Right," said Hermione at once as she began to walk brusquely, pulling out the two lists she had made and handing one to Hugo. "This one's yours. Here, take some money" – she handed him a bag of coins – "And meet us at the Leakey Cauldron at…one o'clock. _No dawdling_." She added sternly, "Don't go messing if you find James or Fred, don't talk to strangers, don't let anyone pickpocket your money, walk on the right side of the road, do _not_ set foot in Weasley's Wizard Wheezes – if you have, I will know, ask a trustworthy person if you don't know where something is, don't –"

"Mum, I'll be fine." Hugo rolled his eyes, walking off towards Flourish & Blotts and waving coolly over his shoulder.

"Don't forget to meet us!" she called after him anxiously.

After chewing her lip for a moment, Hermione turned back to her youngest. "Right. First things first: robes."

The employee attending to them at Twilfitt and Tattings was cheery and talkative, babbling on continuously about this, that, and the other, stopping only for breath and commenting on anything that popped into her head. She had been, she explained, a Hufflepuff, and clearly her best wish for Rose was that she, too, would be a Hufflepuff, for her conversational antics nearly always looped back round to Rose's feelings about going into Hogwarts.

It was with great relief that Rose and Hermione finally took their leave, having extracted themselves from this situation by pretending they had an appointment to get to.

Next stop: Flourish & Blotts, where they collected a multitude of textbooks and quills. Then onto a dark, funny-smelling shop that was the apothecary, and after that Potage's Cauldron Shop and a few others besides.

Last but not least, there was Ollivander's

It was a fairly run-down looking place; the paint was peeling off and a few of the cobblestones were missing from the walkway that led from the street to the door. Inside, there was most prominently the smell of moth balls and musty cardboard. Although there were a couple students and their parents in line ahead of Rose, it had the quiet and peaceful atmosphere of a library.

A tallish, blond boy reached over the counter to receive his wand as his father paid the positively ancient man behind the counter, and together they turned and strode out the door. The father nodded coolly to Hermione and she responded in kind.

"Weasley."

"Malfoy."

Ah, so this, then, was the famed Draco Malfoy that Dad and Uncle Harry were always telling stories about. She met the son's eyes briefly as they passed. They were slate grey, identical to the father's.

The bell tinkled as the Malfoys made their exit and the next customer stepped up – a chubby girl with an unflattering set of teeth.

Due to the nature of the art of wand-choosing, it was another ten minutes before it was Rose's turn. Ollivander peered down at her through his spectacles. The man was so old that he looked more like a cross between a prune and a walnut than he did human. A few determined wisps of white hair still clung to his head and stuck out at odd angles. Ollivander caught sight of Hermione and the walnut split into a grin.

"Well, well, my girl, looking just the same as ever. Back for the second child I see. How's young Hugo doing? Let's see his is…cypress and unicorn hair, if memory serves, twelve and a quarter inches, slightly springy, correct?"

"That's it." Hermione beamed.

"Well then, let's see what we can do for the young one here. What's your name?"

"Rose Leigh Weasley." Rose answered obediently.

"Birth date?"

"October sixteenth, 2006."

"Blue or orange?"

"Um…blue."

"Coffee or tea?"

"Coffee."

"Favorite sport?"

"Quidditch!"

"Early bird or night owl?"

"Early bird."

"Thank you." Ollivander concluded, disappearing into the back of his shop. He hobbled back a minute later with four wand boxes, which he set upon the counter and opened the first. "Dogwood and phoenix feather, ten and a half inches, bendy."

Rose accepted the wand by the handle and gave it a little swish through the air. Ollivander's clawed hand reached out and removed it from her immediately, muttering, "No no no, wrong flexibility."

He opened the next box reciting, "Pear and phoenix feather, eleven inches, fairly flexible."

This, too, was rejected, and set on top of the dogwood wand, and the next one opened.

"Silver lime and phoenix feather, thirteen inches, hard."

Rose had barely taken hold of the handle when Ollivander snatched it back. "What was I thinking, silver lime? Here, give this one a go." He opened the fourth box and pulled out the wand, "I thought the phoenix feather would agree with you, but I brought out a dragon heartstring just in case it didn't, which it hasn't. This one is vine and dragon heartstring, thirteen inches, fairly flexible."

Rose waved it. It did feel a little better than the others, she conceded. Ollivander, on the other hand, was still unsatisfied.

"Your mother has a vine and dragon heartstring wand." He commented, "So I thought you might be well matched with one. However, I don't think it's quite right."

"I like it all right." Rose allowed. Ollivander's eyes held a spark of amusement.

"Miss Rose, a measley little _all right_ is not acceptable in a wand. Do you see the rows and rows of wands behind me? Surely, there is one among them that is better than all right."

Taking the four unsuccessful wands back to their places, he returned with only a single box this time.

"Give this one a wave." Ollivander handed Rose the wand and she took it. "It's sycamore with dragon heartstring, twelve and three quarters inches, unyielding."

She obeyed, giving the same little swish and flick motion she'd seen her mother use to lift things when cleaning. This time, the wand was not snatched away and Ollivander brightened considerably.

"Well now, I think we've found the one! Or rather, _it_ has found _you_."

**I hope you enjoyyyyedddd!**

**luv u**

**-oldsoul**

**here comes the sun**

**na na na na**

**here comes the sun**

**and I say**

**it's all right**


	2. Three Little Birds

**hiya guys, here is chapter 2! woot!**

**had a bit of writers block this chapter - sorry about the sorting hats song. I know it sucks :P**

**please enjoy and don't forget to review!**

"Mum get off you're embarrassing me!" Hugo growled out of the side of his mouth. Rose smirked as Hermione reluctantly let go of her son, but the smirk quickly fell when she realized it was her turn.

"I'll miss you." Her mum said, squeezing her in a crushing hug.

"I'll see you at Christmas, okay?" Rose muttered, sincerely hoping that her cousin and peer Al did not see her fall victim to the embarrassment of her mother's goodbye. Luckily, he was deep in conversation with Uncle Harry, looking rather serious and worried. James, Fred, and Hugo had now boarded the Hogwarts Express, already causing trouble, no doubt. Nine-year old Lily was gazing forlornly at the train – earlier, she had expressed longingly that she didn't want to wait two years – she wanted to go _now_!

Prying herself away from her mother, Rose gave her dad a quick hug.

"You'll be great, Rosebud, I know it." Ron whispered in her ear. Rose smiled.

"Don't worry, Dad, I won't burn down the school."

"Oh," Ron added as Rose pulled out of the hug, "See that boy over there?" he nodded towards a familiar blond boy and his parents. She recognized them instantly as the Malfoys. "Don't get too friendly with him, okay? Beat him in everything! Thank god you've got your mother's smarts."

"Of course I will." Rose grinned, "No little Malfoy peewee is going to beat _me_." She replied, realizing as she said it that that _little peewee_ was probably taller than her.

"Alright, squirt. Work hard!"

"Hey Rose!" Hugo called, leaning halfway out one of the train windows, "Hurry up before you get left behind!"

"Hugo!" Hermione shrieked, "Get back in there before you fall out!"

Rose hurried onto the train; James helped her get her luggage onto one of the racks with the promise that he'd help her get it back down again. She hurried down the narrow train corridor, looking for an empty compartment, but all were full except the second from the end, which was occupied by a single girl who was looking out the window at the brick wall on the other side of the platform. Rose opened the compartment door and the girl looked up, as if startled.

"I'm sorry," Rose began sheepishly, but would you mind if I sat here with you? I was kind of late getting on the train and so everywhere else is full…"

"Oh, not at all." The girl replied. Her voice was soft and she smiled a bit shyly as Rose sat down opposite her and the train began to move.

"What's your name?" Rose asked, feeling she ought to take the initiative, "I'm Rose Weasley. My dad calls me Rosebud and my uncles call me Rosie Leigh and sometimes my brother calls me Thorn Face but everyone else calls me Rose."

"I'm Lavender Thomas." The girl replied. Her skin was the color of coffee and she had dark hazel eyes. Her black hair was pulled behind her in a braid, but like Rose's, a few bits had come loose and hung about her face. "Everybody I know calls me Lavender."

"Hi Lavender." Rose replied, then followed a pause, after which Rose asked, "What House are you hoping to be in?"

"Well, I don't really know all that much about it," Lavender said modestly, "My dad's a muggle-born wizard and my mum's a muggle and we live in a muggle neighborhood, so I haven't had much interaction with the wizarding world…but I guess I would be happy with any of the Houses. …I've heard some bad things about Slytherin though."

Rose nodded knowledgably, "Slytherin have a bit of a bad reputation." She agreed, "I'll probably be a Gryffindor – my whole family is Gryffindor."

The conversation continued throughout the whole journey to Hogwarts. The candy cart came around and Rose bought a licorice wand, seeing that Hugo, James, and Fred had previously emptied the cart of all boxes of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. Rose had been told that they'd even earned the nickname 'Bertie Brothers' at school, simply because of the amount they consumed on a weekly basis.

When they were nearing Hogwarts, Rose pronounced that they should probably go put their robes on, and she exchanged her muggle hoodie and jeans for a school uniform consisting of a white blouse, tie, grey jumper and pleated skirt, as well as black robes overtop. The witch at Twilfitt and Tattings had explained that the Hogwarts crests on her clothing and her tie would automatically change to represent the House she was put into.

The train stopped and she swallowed her nervousness down to the bottom of her stomach. Just getting out of the car was a trial in itself – fifty kids trying to get through a space meant for two caused a bit of mayhem around the exit, but Rose managed to sqeeze out and relocate Lavender, who was looking positively terrified.

"FIRS' YEARS THIS WAY!"

Rose glanced doubtfully at the huge man that was waving around a lantern and bellowing at the top of his lungs. After a moment, she recognized the man as Hagrid, whom she'd been told about many times.

"FIRS' YEARS OVER HERE PLEASE!" Hagrid called again. There were a few hesitant eleven-year olds that trotted up to him nervously.

"Come on, Lavender. It's alright, he's the groundskeeper."

"Oi, you!" Hagrid shouted in her direction as Rose neared him, and she wondered briefly if she'd done something wrong – was she in trouble?

"Yer Rose Weasley!" he reveled, bending down for a closer look, "Yeh look like just yer mum, yeh do. And yer dad's hair o'course."

"And Albus Potter!" his beam now shifted to her cousin, who she hadn't realized was behind her.

"I knew all of yer parents when they was titchy li'l firs' years just like yeh."

"I've heard about you, too." A new voice drawled as Hagrid rose and began to lead the first years towards the lake. Rose turned and saw the pale, pointed face, the white-blond hair, the cold grey eyes and the thin-lipped smirk. He was flanked by two fellow first years – a rather large boy with a pug-ugly face, and a scrawny girl with jet-black hair and dark eyes.

"Weasley's. My grandfather's told me all about you. Blood-traitors, every single one." Scorpius sneered.

"Your same grandfather whose ass got kicked by the Weasleys?" Rose retorted, for she too, had heard stories about the Malfoys.

"Ah, Rose," Lavender said quietly, "maybe you shouldn't…antagonize."

Rose ignored her.

"Want me to deck her for ya?" the scrawny girl asked excitedly, glaring at Rose. She resisted the urge to snort. That shrimpy little squirt couldn't deck a squirrel.

"Steady on, Aria," Scorpius replied coldly, "These mudbloods aren't worth our time."

Rose opened her mouth to reply, hot with anger, but before she had the chance Lavender was dragging her away onto a boat and Scorpius and his gang had already disappeared onto another. Who did that snotty little prick think he was?!

As they moved silently through the water, Rose began to calm, dragging her fingers through the black, mirror-like water that reflected the night sky. Hogwarts was huge, Rose realized, but it was beautiful, lit up from inside on the first day of term.

This peaceful scene was shattered by a shriek that emanated from nearby.

"Something just touched me! Eww, eww, something slimy touched me!"

"Oh, prob'ly jus' the Giant Squid." Hagrid provided cheerfully, "It's a very misunderstood creature. Only dangerous when it's angry."

Rose pulled her fingers out of the water.

It began to rain. Having reached the other side of the lake, four-hundred or so scraggly, wet eleven-year-olds plodded into the Great Hall. They stood in a line, just inside the doorway. It was pleasantly warm in the castle, Rose noticed, in contrast to the cool September chill that was creeping around outside.

"Welcome!" One voice rose above the chattering in the Great Hall, which began to die down. The speaker was an old-looking witch dressed in all black and seated in the middle of the staff table. The witch stood up to her full height and looked down upon the students rather severely. This, Rose assumed, was Minerva McGonagall, headmistress of Hogwarts.

"Welcome," McGonagall announced again, "To Hogwarts. I hope everyone has enjoyed a relaxing vacation, but now it is time to resume our duties as representatives of our school. May I remind you that the Forbidden Forest is so named for a reason." She raked her eyes across the sea of heads, "Some of our third-year students would do well to remember that." Her gaze now fell distinctly upon the Bertie Brothers, who stared back innocently. "On a lighter note, will you please welcome our new Care of Magical Creatures teacher, back from doing research on the Crumple-Horned Snorkack in Africa, Luna Lovegood."

A rather absent looking witch stood and bowed amidst a smattering of applause before taking her seat once again and proceeding to use her fork to jab at invisible creatures in the air.

"As usual, we ask that you refrain from casting spells in the hallways, as Mr Filch does not enjoy cleaning up the results. And I believe that will conclude our announcements for the evening." McGonagall finished, "So now let us begin with the sorting of our newest members."

She lifted a bedraggled, moth-eaten scrap of cloth that may have been a wizard's hat at some point in its early life, and set the thing upon a three-legged stool where it seemed to stay upright on its own.

"When I call your name, you will sit upon the stool and place the hat upon your head. It will decide your House and then you will take a seat at your designated table with Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, or Slytherin. But first…" McGonagall nodded to the Sorting Hat, and a tear in the fabric parted in something that Rose recognized vaguely as a mouth. And the hat began to sing.

_"__An ancient story does remain_

_Inside this fabric face_

_The great founders of Hogwarts_

_And how they housed their race_

_The first creators of this school_

_That's younger now than I,_

_Had their thoughts on who should reign_

_Said Slytherin most sly:_

_'__Those with the most ambition_

_Must be the ones to rule'_

_Young Ravenclaw, she disagreed,_

_Thought smarts were best for school_

_For Gryffindor most important,_

_Were the courageous and the brave_

_And Hufflepuff the hardworking_

_Should be the ones to save_

_For years and years they fought and fought_

_Like felines at a spat_

_'__Til finally dear Hufflepuff_

_Had had enough of that_

_'__We'll all rule' she decided_

_'__Divide them into four:_

_Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff,_

_Slytherin and Gryffindor'_

_Her fellow wizards all agreed_

_This solution was the best_

_One took me off, breathed life in me_

_Said 'you'll divide the rest!'_

_So, come now, youngest wizards,_

_You've naught to fear from me,_

_I'll put you right where you belong,_

_'__mongst friends and enemies!"_

It was quite the worst song Rose had ever heard, but the Sorting Hat was looking tremendously pleased with itself as the Great Hall applauded its effort. McGonagall was now holding a very long scroll of parchment, and now began to read it.

"Abrahms, Jacob."

Abrahms, Jacob swallowed visibly before walking up to the stool and staring at the hat for a moment.

"Well," McGonagall motioned impatiently, "Go on."

Jacob took the hat gingerly between two fingers and sat down on the stool, placing it on his head. It was a little too big, and fell down nearly over his eyes. The wizard-born first years who already knew about the Sorting Hat watched with mild interest, while the muggle-borns looked on with an excited air of curiosity. What was this old bit of fabric capable of? Would it cause him to pass out? Would it blow him to little bits? Who knew?

To their disappointment, it did nothing of the sort. Instead, the hat deliberated for a moment before calling "HUFFLEPUFF!"

A cheer went up from the Hufflepuff table as Jacob took his place among their ranks.

"Apex, Miriam."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Arwin, Bacchus."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Asguard, Daniella."

"…HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Askeaton, Kyle."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

And so it went, down the list. They went through Charleston, Anne ("GRYFFINDOR!") Gallagher, Richard ("SLYTHERIN!") Macmillian, Ernie Jr. ("HUFFLEPUFF!").

"Malfoy, Scorpius."

Scorpius strode up to the hat and gently lowered it onto his head. Rose watched, even though she knew what the outcome would be. The hat was quiet for a long moment.

"…SLYTHERIN!"

She nodded in a satisfactory manner. That was predictable. The rest of the names flew by in a blur. There was one instance in which the hat sat on a boy named Doyle Finnegan's head for nearly five minutes. Rose was told later that the hat had considered putting him in Hufflepuff for a long while before choosing Gryffindor.

It wasn't until "Thomas, Lavender." That Rose really started paying attention again.

"RAVENCLAW!"

Rose clapped with the Ravenclaws. She had rather hoped that Lavender would be put into Gryffindor, all the more chance they'd be together, but as long as she wasn't a Slytherin, life was peachy.

Several minutes later, McGonagall was nearing the end of the list and the Great Hall was starting to get restless.

"Weasley, Rose."

Her heart jumped into her mouth as she sat herself on the stool and brought the Sorting Hat down onto her head.

**did u like itttt? I hope you did :3**

**-oldsoul**

**...**

**singin' please don't**

**don't worry**

**this is my message to you-u-u-u**


	3. Savoy Truffle

**chapter 3 is a wee bit uneventful, my apologies**

**please review!**

"_Well well, another Weasley I see."_

Rose jumped, looking around for the speaker before she realized the voice was inside her head.

_"__Granger more like." _ The hat corrected, and Rose felt like a bug under a microscope as the sorting hat poked and prodded around her mind.

_"__Your mother was almost a hatstall, did you know that? I spent four and a half minutes trying to decide whether to put her in Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. I'm afraid you are proving to be a similar conundrum."_

_ "__I'm sorry."_ Rose squeaked in her mind.

_"__No need to be frightened," _the hat replied in a kindly tone, _"Being torn between multiple Houses shows well-rounded character. Now, let us begin the analysis."_

The _analysis_? Rose wondered nervously. Was this a lobotomy?

_"__Plenty of pride I see." _The hat began, _"But not really the Slytherin type and definitely not a Hufflepuff either."_

Rose was aware that two minutes had slipped by.

_"__You've got your mother's smarts, oh yes, you'd make a wonderful Ravenclaw. Then again there's the matter of this great lump of courage you have back here."_

She wondered vaguely whether different personality traits were represented as physical lumps inside one's mind.

"_So now the question is,_" the hat continued, as if it hadn't pointed this out already, _"Are you the bravest Ravenclaw or the smartest Gryffindor?"_

It dawned on Rose that she hadn't even considered not being put in Gryffindor. She'd just assumed it would be an easy decision, but now the hat was clearly considering Ravenclaw as a House option for her. Of course, Ravenclaw was not a bad House to be in – Victoire was a Ravenclaw, Lavender was a Ravenclaw, but not being in Gryffindor would be breaking tradition. Her family wanted – no, her family expected her to be a Gryffindor…didn't they?

_"__Don't worry, dear." _The hat comforted, picking up on her dilemma, _"The Weasleys are kind people, they won't mind a bit what House you're put into, as long as you're a good person."_

This didn't do much in the way of lessening anxiety, as Rose realized she'd been sitting on the stool for three minutes.

_"__All things considered," _the hat remarked, _"I think we'd better hand you over to GRYFFINDOR!_"

The relief was a lifesaver. Rose Weasley was a Gryffindor. She was not the odd man out.

Rose stood and walked towards the Gryffindor table, and it was a moment before she realized it was her name McGonagall was calling.

"Weasley – Miss Weasley, the hat, dear, the hat."

With a flush of embarrassment, Rose removed the Sorting Hat from her head and walked back to the stool, placing it on the seat. Scorpius and his two companions, she noticed, were smirking.

Rose took her seat between Al and Fred. Across the table, Hugo winked at her reassuringly as Whitaker, Kimberly was named a Hufflepuff and Wythe, Alexander a Slytherin.

As the Sorting concluded with Zimmerman, Florence ("GRYFFINDOR!") the empty platters on the table suddenly quaked with magic as food bloomed from nowhere. The feast had begun.

…

Rose grimaced – she'd eaten too much too fast, and now her stomach was making its displeasure known.

"Alright, Rose?" Teddy asked mildly. Rose had always liked Teddy Lupin – he was like a brother to her. Even though they weren't related by blood, Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny were his godparents, so he spent a lot of time around the Potters and the Weasleys, especially since he was romantically involved with Victoire.

"Fine," she replied, noticing his hair was a bright turquoise today. Usually he kept it at a rather low-level yellow-blond, since anything more extravagant was offensive to some of the professors, but it appeared that today in the interests of the first day of term, he'd elected to spice it up a bit.

The prefects for Gryffindor, whose names Rose had forgotten, led the first years up to the common room, reminding them that this staircase was prone to change on Fridays, and that the one with the invisible step tended to disappear spontaneously.

The male prefect, who was short and ordinary-looking, stopped in front of a portrait of a fat lady who was preoccupied with screeching like an owl. In her left hand was an empty wine glass, which she was glaring at, and if possible, she screeched even louder.

"Mugwump." The prefect said, standing expectantly in front of the lady. She paid him no mind.

"_Mugwump_." He repeated, and was met with nothing. "Mugwump! _Mug-_oh, for god's sake open up!"

The fat lady ceased her unbearable racket and looked at him rather reproachfully. "Oh very well. You could stand to be a little more polite, you know." Her portrait swung back to allow the Gryffindors through a hole in the wall which broadened into a warm, fire-lit room with two narrow corridors in the far left and right corners

"This is the Gryffindor common room." The female prefect remarked unnecessarily, "The left corridor leads to the boys' dormitories, and the right to the girls'. The dorm assignments are posted at the end of the corridor at the bottom of the stairs – your things should already be in your rooms. Any activity outside the Gryffindor quarters after ten thirty is forbidden unless you have a teacher's note or an astronomy pass."

As she concluded her speech, the first-year Gryffindors streamed through the two corridors. Rose was swept up along with the rest of the girls, and it was quite a few minutes before the crowd thinned enough for her to get close enough to read the dorm assignment sheet. Weasley, Rose fell under dorm 319 with three other names she didn't bother to read.

Dorm 319 held four four-poster beds. Rose took the one by the window, as the one in the back had already been claimed by a tall witch with pixie style spiky black hair dyed purple at the tips. On one of the legs of Rose's bed there was a heart containing the initials 'M+L' carved into the wood.

"Well," The black-haired witch asked, "Who are you all then?"

"Who are you?" Rose answered. The other girl raised an eyebrow.

"My name is Thea Robertson. And you are?"

"Rose Weasley. Pleasure." Rose replied, not sure if she was sincere or not.

"It's all mine." Thea said coolly, then turned to the other two girls.

"Emory Byrd." The brunette offered, heaving her trunk onto her bed.

"Oh, I'm Harriet Montgomery." The other said softly. She was petite and had brown hair that came to her chin, and was quite pretty.

"Well what do you guys think about Hogwarts so far?" Rose asked in an attempt to make conversation as the girls unpacked.

"It's lovely." Harriet said, pulling out a book and laying it on her night table.

"Good food." Emory remarked pleasantly.

Thea shrugged. "I just hope the classes aren't too boring."

"I think our schedules are supposed to arrive in the morning." Rose said, wriggling into her pajamas. "But I'm too tired to think about anything much right now. Just hope I haven't got Parkinson for too many days at a time. She doesn't much like my brother, or anyone from my family for that matter."

"I heard that the herbology professor is incredibly hot." Emory said dreamily, "He's head of Gryffindor House you know."

"What, Longbottom?" Rose asked mildly, trying to seem as if she knew what she was talking about, "My parents went to school with him. They're grand friends."

The gossip continued for a while, after which Thea declared loudly that would all of them shut up – she was going to bed, although not in a harsh tone.

And so Rose's first night at Hogwarts came to an end.

**tell me watcha think! hope you enjoyed! there will be more scorpius interaction later :D**

**-oldsoul**

**cream tangerine**

**and montelimat**

**ginger sling with a pineapple heart**


	4. We Wish You a Merry Christmas

**chapter 4 is a bit of a filler I'm afraid :(**

**please review anyway though and I hope you enjoy!**

It so transpired that Rose had Potions first period on Mondays and Thursdays. Potions with the Slytherins.

Assigned seats. Not by surname. Who was she forced to sit next to?

Of course.

"Nice quill, Weasley. Your mum pick that off a bald chicken?"

Rose flushed. So what if her mum thought chicken quills were sensible, and lovely eagle quills like Scorpius's were impractical extravagance?

"No need to express your jealousy, Malfoy, I wouldn't want a troll for a mother either."

"Why you little –"

"Miss Weasley!" Professor Parkinson snapped, "You will not conduct a conversation while I am speaking! Ten points from Gryffindor!"

Rose glowered at the unfairness – Parkinson hadn't said a word to Scorpius!

Charms was better. The Ravenclaws were there, so she partnered with Lavender while they worked on the elevation spell. Both girls got the hang of it rather quickly, but the Gryffindor sitting next to them pronounced his _Wingarduim_ incorrectly, and so managed to turn the entire table into green slime, which Flitwick quickly reversed, but it left snot-colored marks on Rose's textbook all the same.

The days went by, and then the weeks. Rose kept up her studies fairly well, although she came out with an A for adequate in Astronomy and Potions instead of an O for outstanding, which she achieved in all her other classes.

Through Potions, Rose and Thea tended to gravitate towards each other during partner activities; Rose because she didn't want to partner with Scorpius (the boy had been unbearable) and Thea because she was good at potions and liked to show off, and no one else could stand her endless prattling.

By the time Christmas came around, Rose Weasley, Lavender Thomas, and Thea Robertson had become an inseparable trio.

The Bertie Brothers had been causing more trouble than ever – recently they had enlisted the help of Peeves to transfigure all the Christmas decorations into a writhing mass of brown house spiders, which fell from the ceiling at random moments onto the heads of unsuspecting students. This occurrence, in the case of a female, was usually followed by a bloodcurdling scream and occasionally some foul-mouthed cursing alongside.

The night before the first day of Christmas vacation, Rose, Emory, and Harriet were rushing to stuff their belongings into their suitcases.

"Aren't you going to get packing?" Emory asked Thea, taking a break from her efforts to squeeze her quilt into her trunk to look up.

"No, I'm staying here for Christmas."

"…Haven't you missed your parents at all?" Emory asked rather disbelievingly. Rose stopped to listen. Thea never mentioned her life outside of Hogwarts, so she was interested in the answer as well.

"Haven't got any." Thea replied with false cheeriness. Rose blinked. Why hadn't she heard about this before?

"But…where do you live?" was Emory's response. It probably wasn't a good idea to press the matter, Rose speculated, but the question was out now.

"I live in a London suburb." Thea answered a bit reluctantly.

"You haven't got a home, have you?" Harriet asked quietly. Thea swallowed.

"You can come home with me!" Rose offered immediately, "My parents wouldn't mind at all we'd love to have you oh you can't stay here by yourself!" she rushed.

"Thanks Rose," Thea smiled, "But no thanks. I won't be by myself anyway. There are other people staying here for Christmas. I'll see you guys again in a few weeks anyway…it's no big deal."

Rose didn't push it.

And so it was that Rose, Emory, Harriet, and Lavender went away on the Hogwarts Express, and Thea stayed behind at Hogwarts. Before she left, Rose put her parcel for Thea under the tree in the common room – it was _Quidditch Through the Ages_, as Thea had taken a liking to the sport and was hoping to try out for a spot as soon as she could (which wouldn't be until she was thirteen; the age limit required by the school.) Rose was also into Quidditch, her family being big fliers, but Lavender was rather queasy on a broomstick and didn't much like heights.

…

Christmas with the Weasleys was always a large affair. It was being hosted at the Burrow this year, Grandma and Grandpa Weasley's house, which was the biggest. Rose shared a room with Lily and Fred's little sister, Roxanne, who was eight, and both girls were absolutely starving for a glimpse of Hogwarts life.

"What are your classes like?"

"Is the food good?"

"What's the Gryffindor Common Room look like?"

"Daddy says there's a Poltergeist. What does he do?"

"Do you play Quidditch?"

Rose answered all of their questions to the best of her knowledge, trying hard to appear the wise, eleven-year-old elder.

Lily was an intelligent girl with big, brown eyes and straight ginger hair. She looked very much like Ginny, but with subtleties that belied her relation to Harry, such as her gait and her grin.

Roxanne was a tad petite. She and her brother were of mixed race, their mother being black, so she didn't have the usual Weasley hair, but she did have a spattering of freckles across her nose. Her eyes were a light brown and her hair dark brown. Roxanne had inherited her father's sense of humor, but was sensible enough to refrain from pulling pranks around Grandma Weasley, or leaving a fake muggle toy around for Grandpa to discover.

Hugo, James, and Fred were as mischievous as ever. Throughout the past few days, they had taken to capturing gnomes in the garden, teaching them an entire list of creative swear words, and then releasing them into the chicken coop, which caused no end to the amount of chaos and greatly impeded the Christmas preparations.

Getting the huge evergreen tree into the house was a time-consuming operation all on its own. Uncle Bill, Uncle Harry, and Uncle George used a combination of a Locomotor charm and an _Engorgio_ around the trunk, so it would fit into the stand. Hermione cleaned up after them with a few _Scourgifys_, glaring threateningly at those few evergreen leaves that tried their hardest to remain out of sight under the oven.

Rose was assigned the duty of cleaning out the barn, along with Al. the two chattered endlessly about school – Al was rather amused by the fact that since Potions was his best subject, Parkinson was usually livid that she couldn't find anything to dock points for. Rose, on the other hand, had been almost singularly responsible for most of the Gryffindor points taken during her class period. The Bertie Brothers still held the record of course.

On the second day of cleaning out the barn, which was such a tremendous task that it couldn't be accomplished in a mere yesterday's afternoon, Rose and Al had accidentally walked in on Teddy and Victoire snogging in the loft. Victoire had blushed fiercely and smoothed her long, blond hair, but Teddy had laughed it off and teased the first-years, with a few 'Wotcher's here and there. Rose heard Uncle Harry mention later that Teddy reminded him very much of Sirius, upon which Hermione disagreed, deeming him more like Tonks, and Ron thought he bore a striking resemblance in personality to his brother Fred. Seeing that they had fallen into talking about dead people whom she had no knowledge of, Rose drifted back upstairs.

She was unfortunate enough to bump into Uncle Percy on the landing, who lived on his own and spent nearly all of his free time at the Ministry, where he was the undersecretary to the Minister, Kingsley Shacklebolt. This situation constituted as unfortunate because Rose was subjected to one of Percy's many lectures on good character and responsibility, all of which she had heard before. This time it was the one on properly choosing friends. (Albus tells me you've become quite close to a mischief maker…Thaya, was it? Don't let her lead you down the Fred and George route, Rose. Keep your best interests in mind.)

After extracting herself from this undesirable situation, Rose wandered into the shared bedroom. There was a hurried rustle of paper and Lily turned around, freckles reddening.

"Rose! Can't you see I'm wrapping your present?! Shoo! Go somewhere else!"

Rose resisted the urge to say that no, actually she could not see, except for the small patch of something that was precisely the navy blue shade of the Puddlemere United colors, Rose's favorite Quidditch team, peeking out from under the purple wrapping.

On Christmas morning, Rose was awakened by the excited chattering of her roommates, and it took her a moment to realize that they were already downstairs. She groaned and rolled over, pulling the pillow over her head to try and drown out the noise. What had she been thinking, telling Ollivander she was an early bird?

"Rize and shine, Rose!" A new voice intruded, with a lilting French accent, "Zee ozzerz are already downstairs, you will not want to mees out!" Fleur called happily. Rose yawned and graduated to sitting up, bleary eyed.

"Yeah, 'm comin'." She mumbled back, tossing back the warm covers. The chilly December air met her skin and she shivered, pulling on a jumper over her pajamas. After some basic essentials to make herself halfway presentable, Rose made her way into the kitchen, where the delicious smell of rashers and the like was permeating the rest of the house. Victoire was shoving a quiche into Teddy's arms saying, 'Here, this goes on the table, and take the pie-server as well."

Hermione, catching sight of her daughter lurking in the doorway, waved Rose over and set her to work laboring alongside Teddy, who winked and said, "Wotcher, Rose. Careful of that owl of your brother's, he's been in and out some – dropped a few feathers and a pellet in the blood sausage earlier. Had to scrap it. No complaints there, eh?"

Rose agreed that this had been a fortunate occurrence, as she wasn't fond of blood sausage either. Nasty, horrid stuff it was.

The rest of the food was good, though. There was barely enough of Victoire's quiche to go around, but it was delicious nevertheless, as were the rashers, pumpkin juice, and everything else that had been cooked that morning.

As far as presents, Rose felt she'd brought a good haul this year. She'd indeed received Puddlemere United paraphernalia from Lily – a databook, to be precise. Rose had bought Lily and Roxanne each a Chocolate Frog collection that was Hogwarts themed. That is to say, all the Chocolate Frog cards had Hogwarts headmasters on them.

From Grandma Weasley there was the usual knitted sweater emblazoned with a fancy R. Rose's was blue and Hugo's was a deep red.

Uncle George and Aunt Angelina's was the most amusing, though. They'd given each of the kids a bag of sweets from Weasley 's Wizard Wheezes. The consumption of one such sweet would cause the victim to produce noises of a certain type – Hugo, James, and Fred spent the morning squawking like chickens and clanging as though they were huge bells every time they opened their mouths.

All in all, Rose's eleventh Christmas was entirely successful, and she returned to Hogwarts a week and a half later with the promise to her mother that she would try harder in Potions and keep her brother out of mischief.

**next chapter we jump ahead into 5th year, this is where we will start to get some rosexscorpius action!**

**-oldsoul**

**and a happy new year.**


	5. Do, a Deer

**okay so I lied, I didn't get the scorpius appearance in this chapter. next chapter, surely. **

**anyway, now we have skipped ahead into rose's fifth year in Hogwarts. hugo is a seventh year now (mah bbys you grow up so fast! ;w;)**

**this chapter is all setting up for later chapters! yaaaaayyy! anyway, I hope you enjoy, please review :)**

"Rose, what's the meaning of _Oppugno?_" The hissed question reached Rose from a foot away, where Thea was leaning into the aisle. The quiz on charm etymology had been announced the previous Wednesday, and was now underway. Thea, being Thea, had forgotten to study, and was now faced with translating Latin roots with no prior knowledge of the spells. Of course, if she'd bothered to take notes, like Rose had, she'd have had something to study with in the first place.

"I attack." Rose whispered back. A combination of Flitwick's old age and their position in the back of the room saved them from discovery.

"That's time." Flitwick announced a few minutes later, though there was no visible timepiece in the room, "_Accio_ quizzes."

Thea glared as her piece of parchment was swept from her desk and into Flitwick's hands. "Damn. I didn't get the last two."

"The Protean charm was derived from the Greek god Proteus, meaning flexible, and –" Rose began unhelpfully, as there was no going back to fix it now.

"What?!" Thea broke in incredulously, "I thought they were all supposed to be Latin! No fair!"

"—and _Lapifors_ is from _lepus_, which means 'hare' in Latin." She finished happily, feeling good about her own quiz.

"I'll have them back to you by Thursday," Flitwick was squeaking, "And we will begin our next unit on fire-based spells, which are most definitely going to be on your O.W.L.s, at the end of the semester."

The girls made their way out of Flitwick's class and into the hall. The last class of the day had ended and now Rose and Thea headed up to the Gryffindor common room, picking up Lavender for a brief period of time before they branched off in separate directions, as the Ravenclaw common room was in a separate tower from Gryffindor's.

"—and we've Quidditch practice this afternoon as well," Thea was moaning as they paused to deliver the correct password, ("Humdinger") and step through the portrait hole, "Not to mention those twelve inches of parchment that Longbottom gave us on the medicinal uses of mandrake root. Maybe I'll just write really big and take up more space…"

"Don't try it." Rose advised, "Remember what Parkinson did to Doyle Finnegan when he used six inches to say 'a bezoar is a common antidote to poison' in three different ways? He's still in detention you know, and that was a two weeks ago!"

"That was a completely different circumstance," Thea replied dismissively, "For one thing, that was Parkinson, and she's a – hey, what's that?" she broke off and pointed to a large and rather conspicuous notice on the bulletin board that hadn't been there that morning. Rose read it aloud.

"Starting next Monday, January sixteenth, all students fifth-year through seventh-year will be required to take a dance class immediately after the conclusion of classes Monday through Friday. This will be in honor of the upcoming Valentine's Ball. Class assignments are as follows: Hufflepuffs, room 612, Hannah Abbot. Ravenclaws, room 426, Padma Patil. Slytherins, room 310, Millicent Bulstrode, Gryffindors, room 504, Parvati Patil."

After Rose had finished, Thea groaned dramatically. "That's us, Rose, we're fifth-years!" as if this wasn't apparent.

Rose wrinkled her nose in agreement. Dancing really wasn't her thing – to say she was graceful on her feet would have been stretching it a bit.

"Come on, Thea, let's get our brooms – Hugo and James will feed us vomit-flavored beans if we're late for practice." Rose was not entirely sure that she was joking.

Thankfully, this punishment was avoided, and Rose and Thea made it safely to the Quidditch pitch by the allotted 4:30, where the rest of the team was already waiting.

"Right," said Hugo, tapping the butt of his broomstick on the ground. Being seventh-years, he and James were co-captains of the Gryffindor Quidditch team; Hugo was a Beater and James Seeker. Until last year, Fred had also been a Beater, but after suffering a severe shoulder injury in a game against Slytherin, his mother had decided that it would be in his best interests if he was taken off the team, despite his vehement protesting. Doyle Finnegan was playing in his stead.

Rose was a Chaser, along with Nina Pinto and Roxanne Weasley, a new addition as she had recently turned thirteen. Thea was Keeper.

"I'm sure you've all seen that lovely notice they've put up." Hugo continued matter-of-factly, "McGonagall wants us to make ourselves look like elephants every day after classes, so I'm not sure when we're going to get practice in – I think by the time they've let us out of twirling class it'll already be dark. We might have to practice on the weekends instead. Me and James will let you know as soon as we've got it sorted out."

"Right so." James picked up after his cousin had finished, heaving the trunk that held the Quidditch balls around and undoing the latches. The snitch was a golden blur as it sped out of the open trunk, dying to get away. "You all know what to do."

Rose mounted her Shooting Star and rose into the air, taking her center position. They split up – Rose would try to get the Quaffle past Thea, with the rest of the team against her, save one beater who would be her defense. The Chasers would alternate this standalone position for a while until Hugo and James got bored and decided to do some sort of agility practice instead. James let out the Bludgers next, and they too shot upwards from the ground. Last was the Quaffle, Which Rose and Roxanne both rushed for. Rose, being bigger and able to elbow small third-years out of the way, got hold of it first, and ducked around Roxanne. Hugo aimed a Bludger at his sister, only to have it deflected by Doyle, who was proud Irish to the core, and owned a poor toad named Marley.

Marley had been the unfortunate subject of various experiments by Fred, who was into toads. Rose believed that at this point in Marley's life, he was a loud shade of violet, and had a poisonous horn growing from his chin.

Rose feigned a right around Nina and flew left around her, but the older girl wasn't so easily fooled, and nearly succeeded in stealing the Quaffle; Rose lost her grip on it for a second but managed to regain control before Nina closed in. She heaved the ball clumsily towards the leftmost hoop, but Thea easily blocked the throw and the goal was saved. Hugo shook his head.

"What was that, little sis? You're not throwing to Grandma Weasley, you know."

Rose rolled her eyes as she switched places with Roxanne and the exercise commenced once again.

…

"And a one, and a two, and a three and a – keep your feet straight!" Professor Patil broke off, with a meaningful glance at Thea, who straightened out her feet.

"Right," she continued, "Let us go through this individual sequence once more before we get into partners."

There was a collective groan but Patil's voice rose above it. "_I _will be giving you your partners. You must practice partnership, seeing as you will be in partners come February. Ready? Five, six, seven, eight, one, _two,_ three, _four,_ five, _six,_ seven, eight. . ."

Two weeks had passed since the notice had first gone up about dancing. The Gryffindors had been slit up into two classes; the fifth-years were the first class, directly after regular classes ended, and the sixth-years were the second class, right before dinner. The seventh-years had been split up between these two classes. McGonagall had effectively seen to separate Hugo and James, although Fred remained with Hugo, cursing every toad as soon as he saw it. (Apparently, Marley now had a small bean sprout growing out of his back in addition to his other irregularities.)

"Well done!" Patil beamed and clapped her hands together as the dance came to its conclusion. "Now, I would like ladies over here please, and gentlemen over here." She gestured to opposite ends of the room. "Let's number off." She added, pointing to the first boy in the line of them.

"One."

"Two."

"Three."

"Four."

And so it went down the line, and then over to the girls. Rose observed with dismay that her "Twenty-one" matched up with Barry Nooney on the boys' side. He was a scrawny little fifth-year, shorter than Rose herself, and his sharp little teeth, wrinkled nose, small eyes, and potbelly led him to be known primarily as 'The Rat', which, altogether was a fitting name. Rose attributed his Sorting into Gryffindor to the fact that he had no qualms about asking out every other girl that came down the street. It was a tribute to his undesirable character that he was still single.

The Rat leered at Rose from across the room and she returned it with a dirty look as Patil ordered them into pairs.

Thea, it seemed, had fared no better, as she'd been shoved together with Travis Mayer, a loud-mouthed, cocky sixth-year, who talked of nothing but himself. He was very good-looking, and also very popular. As of yet, no one had deemed it necessary to mention that he was failing Transfiguration.

"Ready, positions please!" Patil called. Rose, roiling with a mixture of embarrassment, dread, and loathing, allowed her hand to fall limply into The Rat's clammy one. Hugo smirked at her from over the top of Georgina Page's head, taking note of her dance partner. She glared back irritably; Georgina wasn't an acne-ridden little rodent, was she? How come _she'd_ been given the vomit-flavored bean this time?!

Rose allowed herself to wallow in self-pity throughout the remainder of the lesson, purposefully treading on The Rat's toes once or twice during the midst of the sequence and kicking his shin, even managing to trip up Travis's footwork in passing once, much to Thea's delight.

It was a relief when, an hour later, they were dismissed and Rose escaped into her parchment on the medicinal uses of the mandrake root.

**hope you liked. I promise to bring lavender back in and I haven't forgotten what this story is about - we will see more scorpius later!**

**-oldsoul**

**do, a deer, a female deer**

**re, a drop of golden sun**

**mi, a name I call myself**

**fa, a long long way to run**


	6. I'm a Believer

**as promised, some scorpirose action!**

**I do like Aria's character. she has more depth to her than we have seen so far...anyway, I hope you enjoy chapter 6!**

"Now look here, I've managed to catch a nargel for you."

Twenty-two Gryffindors and twenty-four Ravenclaws leaned in to look at the glass jar that Professor Lovegood was holding aloft like a trophy. To their disappointment, the jar appeared to be empty.

"Can anyone tell me what a nargel likes to eat?" she asked absentmindedly, then answered her own question without waiting for a reply.

"A nargel likes to eat woolen things. Socks, underwear." Then, "You know, I think that the Ministry would be better off publishing _The Quibbler_ instead of _The Daily Prophet. _Our article last week on the hibernation habits of the Malaysian Pigwhimsy got more views than the _Daily Prophet's_ article on the state of the Muggle economy right now."

No one deigned to say anything – they were used to Lovegood's flighty antics by now.

"Oh, by the way," the professor added, setting down the jar containing the supposed nargel, "The answer to the bronze eagle's riddle this morning was _a shadow of a doubt."_

Several of the Ravenclaw's made noises of comprehension, Lavender included. Rose didn't ask what the riddle had been, not entirely sure she wanted to know.

"Let's see…" Lovegood continued after a moment, "Our next quiz will be on… July twelfth." Which was, in fact, during the summer when no one was going to be there to take the thing. The Gryffindors and Ravenclaws gathered their materials, knowing that it was about time for the class to end.

"Oh, and if you find a Triple-Toed Bangleortus, do bring it next time for show and tell! But be careful; the Double-Toed ones bite!" Lovegood added, waving them off. Several of the students rolled their eyes behind her back and someone commented,

"And here we have the Ten-Toed Looney in its natural habitat."

To which there were several sniggers. Whether or not Lovegood heard or not, she didn't react, but merely held the nargel in the jar up to her ear and cocked her head, listening, as the students took their leave.

"My cousin was named after her you know." Rose said glumly to Lavender as they walked down the hall, "Lily Luna."

"She's head of Ravenclaw House." Lavender replied a trifle defensively, "And she can be quite wise sometimes."

"She's absolutely dotty."

"She's got an open mind!"

"That's full of nargels which have eaten the wool that was there in the first place!"

"Well _your_ head of House couldn't think about anything but Mandrakes and Billywig Trees if he tried!"

This small exchange continued down the length of the hallway, after which it came to a quick conclusion at the arrival of Professor Parkinson. She was on the warpath to Longbottom's greenhouse to resupply her Root of Asphodel which had disappeared rather mysteriously. Naturally, she suspected Gryffindors were behind it.

"Shouting in the hallways," Parkinson remarked, voice steely, "Five points from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw each." And then continued on her way, leaving Rose and Lavender to glare at the back of her flapping robes.

"Tut tut," a new voice slunk up beside Rose and Lavender, a voice which had been a constant hindrance to them over the past few years. "Are ickle Wosie and ickle Wavvy being naughty again?"

Aria had not changed much since her first appearance on the Hogwarts express. She was still skinny and flat as a board at fifteen, though a bit taller. Her face was fair enough on its own – pale skin and dark hair, with dark blue eyes and long lashes. It had been marred by ugly thoughts, though, and was now smirking at the two girls in its most comfortable expression.

"Where's your precious Scorpie, Aria? Did he dump the little worm and go for the python instead?"

At the arrival of Thea, Aria shrunk back for a tenth of a second, almost imperceptibly, before recovering herself and curling her lip. Aria and Thea were not as different as they made out to be, Rose had observed. Both victims of circumstance, they were orphans and not the friendliest people in the world. But Thea was so brazenly Gryffindorish, always lively and daring, while Aria wallowed in bitterness, clinging to Scorpius as though clinging to life itself.

"Beat it, wormy." Thea shot.

"Don't get your hopes up tonight," Aria snarled venomously, referring to the upcoming Quidditch match, "Slytherin's gonna whup you worse than we did last time!" but she beat it, slinking off to Divination while Rose, Lavender, and Thea headed into Transfiguration.

….

"We're gonna go out there," James declared, catching the eye of every Gryffindor player.

"—And we're gonna beat their snakeskin asses!" Hugo finished emphatically. It was the first Quidditch match since Christmas and it was against Slytherin, who had beaten them badly in their first match of the season back in November.

This last comment was met with a round of determined expressions as the Gryffindors marched out of their dugout and the Slytherins theirs.

"Welcome, witches and witches to our first Quidditch match of the term, Slytherin and Gryffindor!" the voice of Fred Weasley boomed over the Quidditch field; after being denied the option to rejoin the team, he'd switched to commentating instead.

"This is gonna be a good match, guys, I feel it. On the Gryffindor team, we have our co-captains, Beater Hugo Weasley, number 17, and Seeker James Potter, 4. Our Chasers, Rose and Roxanne Weasley, numbers 13 and 28 respectively, and Nina Pinto, number 45. Our other Beater is Doyle Finnegan, 59, and our Keeper Thea Robertson is number 33!"

The roar from the Gryffindor fans drowned out the booing from the Slytherin side of the stadium as Rose mounted her broom and took her place in the sky centerfield.

"And the Slytherin team, current holders of our Hogwarts Quidditch Cup" Fred continued, somewhat less friendlily, "Captain Albert Graham, 64, and his fellow Chasers Billie Eastwood, number 2, and Scorpius Malfoy, number 27. Keeper, Vince Gilbert, 51, Beaters Nathanial and Kurt StRomain, 19 and 44, and Seeker Aria Turnpike, number 16."

The Slytherins cheered wildly and the Gryffindors did their best to discourage this show of enthusiasm. The Slytherins rose into the air – Rose was marking Scorpius, as usual.

She hadn't really seen much of Scorpius this year. They had no classes together and he didn't go out of his way to find her and poke fun at her like he used to. What she had seen of him… he'd been …different. More quiet and reserved. When Scorpius was younger, he'd worn his blond hair slicked back, but now he'd left it rather messy and it fell over his forehead in bangs, and was slightly spiky in its natural state. His grey eyes flicked from one player to another, observing everything. He caught Rose's eye and her stomach fluttered a little because she was nervous about the game.

If this hadn't been Scorpius Malfoy, Rose might've said he was almost kind of cute.

But of course, it _was _Scorpius Malfoy and this sort of interpretation was unacceptable.

Fred concluded his speech and the Snitch was released, quickly followed by the Bludgers and Quaffle. Rose dove for the red sphere, neck and neck with Graham, Scorpius at her robetails trying to stop her.

Albert Graham was a big seventh-year boy with highly arched eyebrows and sharp features. His being in Slytherin proved he was pure-blooded wizard, but he was often teased that his mother was a house-elf, as his slightly pointy ears and bulging eyes gave him quite a resemblance to one.

Nevertheless, his long arms wrapped around the Quaffle before Rose's, and Slytherin had first possession.

"And It's Graham with the Quaffle – to Malfoy – to Eastwood – back to Malfoy! They're speeding down the field – wait! Eastwood fumbles and Roxie takes the steal! Way to go li'l sis!"

Rose readied herself as Roxanne sped towards her, knowing she'd pass. Eastwood and Graham were chasing feverishly after the little red blur, but Roxie was too fast and quickly lugged the ball to Rose, who caught it and tucked it under her arm as she urged her broom onwards towards the Slytherin hoops. A Bludger appeared, but Doyle batted it away easily with his club, towards Aria who dodged.

Thirty yards from the leftmost hoop, Rose tossed the Quaffle to Nina. This was a mistake. Graham and Eastwood had been waiting for just such a happenstance while Scorpius stayed down on the Gryffindor side, ready to score should the ball change possession. The numbers 64 and 2 closed in on Nina's 45, jostling her roughly as they grew ever nearer the Slytherin hoops.

At the same moment that Nina sent the Quaffle flying through the hoop, Graham shoved her forcefully and her head collided with Billie Eastwood's shoulder.

Nina dropped like a stone. Billie, unlike Graham, was decent enough for a Slytherin and dove after Nina to stop her hitting the ground and injuring herself further. A whistle was blown, Hugo and James landed and rushed over as Nina was laid on the ground, the white sand of the Quidditch pitch contrasting starkly with her dark skin. Professor Alicia Spinnet, the flying instructor, was there in an instant, bending over Nina.

After a few anxious minutes, Nina was carried off to the hospital wing and the game resumed. Gryffindor was up ten points, but they had also lost a Chaser. Two against three didn't bode well for Gryffindor, and over the course of the next ten minutes, Slytherin scored five times, making the score fifty ten.

It was during one of the short periods of time in which Gryffindor was in possession that Rose was flying down the field and out of nowhere, a Bludger bloomed in front of her. Scorpius had been slowly gaining on her, and out of the corner of her eye, Rose saw Hugo racing to stave off the offending Bludger, but he wasn't going to get there in time. Rose tried to swerve but Scorpius was in the way. That grey sphere was going to make quick work of her face.

And then there was a green flash, the sparkle of a silver 27, and an impact that was much bigger and softer than a Bludger.

Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy plummeted, a tangle of red and green robes. The fall knocked the wind out of Rose and her nose smashed against his collarbone. A fifteen year old boy was on top of her – she wouldn't have been able to breathe even if she'd caught her breath. Dimly, Rose was aware of Fred's voice saying something about Malfoy's broom kicking him into a Bludger, but then the weight lifted as Scorpius scrambled hastily to get off of her. The Bludger to his head had caused his face to go very red.

Scorpius looked down at Rose as they both stood up and brushed their robes off – he'd always been tall, but he seemed to have shot up like a weed recently.

"Uh…sorry." He said smartly. "Guess my broom just um…"

Rose busied herself counting grains of sand. "'S alright."

"Your nose is bleeding." He remarked in the moment of time it took for Professor Spinnet to reach them. And then his eyes rolled back and he toppled, hitting the ground with a _thump._

Her nose was bleeding.

Shit.

**hope you liked and don't forget to review!**

**-oldsoul**

**when I see your ****bloody nose**** face**

**IMMA BELIEVER!**


	7. You Can't Always Get What You Want

**yaaay! chapter 7! this one is a bit lighthearted but its cool to have fun at a ball I guess. please review!**

"Step two three four, turn and glide and step and rock and step and rock." Parvati Patil's soft voice filled the room of dancing Gryffindors. Rose was happy to let go of The Rat's hand and turn to face her new partner. She might be a little clumsy as she stepped on Doyle's foot with a murmured apology, but she did like this dance because when you turned and took up a new partner, you never knew who you were going to get, though the dance was arranged in such a way that it was always a male and female couple.

On a more pressing note, the Valentines Ball was one week away and Rose Weasley still did not have a date. It was a matter of some urgency; as a girl, she was almost required by society to have a date. To have shown up without one would have been highly embarrassing.

Thea and Lavender had both already expressed that they had dates. Lavender blushed slightly as she confessed that Al had asked her and she'd accepted. ("WHAT! MY _COUSIN_?!")

Thea had refused to say and grinned at Rose with a knowing, triumphant smirk, which made her slightly uneasy. Who was Thea going with?

Nevertheless, it was with a chewed lip and nervous hands that took Rose through the next few days. It was Thursday, two days before the ball that someone finally plucked up the courage to ask Rose.

The end of the dance session. Patil was ushering the Gryffindors out into the hall.

"Rose! Rose! Hey, Rose!"

Her stomach dropped - she knew that voice.

_Please no, please no, please no._

It was with great effort that Rose managed to hide her disdain as she looked down into the spotted face of Barry Nooney. Good god, he wasn't serious?!

"Rose," He addressed bluntly, "It's come to my attention that you are without a date for the Valentines Ball this Saturday."

Somehow, his manner of speaking reminded her of her Uncle Percy, and Rose suppressed the ridiculous urge to laugh.

"Yes." She mumbled meekly.

"Well, as I'm sure you have noticed, neither have I."

He waited, as if expecting Rose to jump for joy and begin screaming wildly. When she was not forthcoming, he plowed on.

"It would be my honor," and he literally bowed to her. People were beginning to turn and watch this amusing spectacle. "To have you accompany me to the ball this Saturday. Will you accept? Rare is the chance to appear at the side of a learned gentleman such as myself."

Oh god. What should she do?! She could lie and tell him that she'd already agreed to go with someone else, thereby risking discovery, or she could accept and arrive as the date of _The Rat_. It was a lose-lose situation. The question was whether she'd rather go with him, or with nobody.

"Oh, um, Ra- I mean Barry I'm really sorry but I've –" she began.

"Wonderful!" The Rat beamed, taking her hand, "I'll meet you at the entrance to the Great Hall at…shall we say…six thirty on Saturday night?"

Rose floundered helplessly for something to say. She shot a desperate glance at James and Hugo, who were trying hard to contain their laughter.

"I…alright. Fine. I've got to go now…um…see you later." She rushed.

"Oh, Rose, let me walk you to the Common Room then."

"No really, it's fine. Besides, I've got to go and…ask Professor Longbottom a question about the homework." With that, Rose made her escape with Thea, and she did not go back to the Common Room for a long while.

….

"Ro-ose!" Emory stamped her foot indignantly, "I _told_ you to be careful and not muss up your hair! Now I've got to do it over again. Come here." She beckoned and Rose grimaced, hair was such a pain. Emory had done it up beautifully though, braided and knotted in the back. It made Rose look much older and more sophisticated.

Emory had chosen to wear her own dark brown hair unadorned and poker-straight. She had on a long, wine-red dress that adorned her slim figure. Rose, for her part, was dressed in a teal colored satin dress that had been her grandmother's. Emory remarked that it matched her eyes.

Harriet was wearing a sky blue dress that came down to her knees – she looked very cute with her chin-length honey-colored hair kept out of her face with a single barrette.

Thea had re-dyed her black pixie cut and done the tips purple to match her plum-colored dress that might have been a little too low-cut for the tastes of some of the teachers. She'd still refused to tell Rose who her date was, and Rose had threatened that maybe she didn't even have one after all. To which Thea scoffed that she _did_ have someone and he was a sight better than Barry Nooney. Rose scowled at this reminder and resolved to get away from said date as soon as possible.

"Ah! There we go!" Emory finished redoing Rose's hair, "Here – this will help it stay in place; _Fixiate_!"

With a bit more preening, the girls in dorm 319 made their exit and entered the Common Room. James was there with his current girlfriend Karin Valance, whom Rose had always liked, though why anyone in their right mind would date James Potter, renowned ladies man and show-off of Hogwarts was a mystery to her. Hugo was alone – Rose grinned to think he didn't have a date, but he stood when they arrived, smiling at someone behind Rose's right shoulder.

Thea grinned back and blushed as he took her hand. It took Rose a moment to realize what this meant, and when she did, she thought every horrid awful swear word she knew, gawking at this shocking new turn of events.

"No." Rose squeaked. "No, this is _not_ okay. You…and you…And I thought Al and Lav was bad."

Truly, from an outsider's perspective, this was not such an unlikely pairing. Both Hugo and Thea had a shared sense of humor, and both wore identical smirks as they looked at the redheaded Weasley girl.

"Didn't I tell you I could do better than The Rat?" Thea asked smugly as the group continued out the portrait hole.

"Dumbedore's pants!" James yelped, using his favorite curse, "I didn't know either. You coulda told me, mate!"

"Dumbledore's baggy boxers more like!" Rose shrieked. Of all the girls in her year, what were the odds she'd pick as her best friends the two girls who were now smitten with her cousin and brother?!

As they made their way to the Great Hall, Rose grew ever grumpier. It was all well and good to _meet up_ on a date if you were from different Houses, like Al and Lavender (who was dressed beautifully in a midnight blue dress, causing Al to blush fiercely.) But when you came from the same House, it was much more chivalrous to pick your date up in the Common Room, was it not?

But The Rat was waiting faithfully by the door to the Great Hall, and good god, was that a _monocle_ he was wearing?

But it was, and Rose reluctantly put her hand on his arm as he led her into the hall, commenting on how lovely she looked tonight.

Rose saw as she entered the Hall that the four tables had been moved to one side and on them were refreshments of various sorts, and the rest of the room was filled with students. She observed that some of the male students were wearing Muggle formal dress, as Flitwick had recently posted a notice claiming that any Muggle-born would be allowed to use the tellyfunk in McGonagall's office if they wished to contact their parents for a tuxspeedo or any other type of Mugglewear for the ball.

Lavender had laughed when she'd seen this, explaining between giggles that it was _telephone_ and _tuxedo_, to which Rose had asked it if wasn't the same difference.

Hugo and Thea immediately flounced off to the middle of the action, while James and Karin made their way to a quiet corner where they could snog in peace. Al and Lavender stood there blushing at each other, and Rose was unwillingly dragged into a dance with The Rat.

It was a few minutes later that another couple arrived, both dressed in green. Aria clung to the arm of Scorpius Malfoy as though clinging to life itself. Rose had to admit that whoever had dressed her up this evening had done a wonderful job – it was hard to make a squirrely little lunatic like her look pretty. But here she was in a lovely emerald dress and silver trimmings and her hair done up in an intricate set of swirls and clips, and her lips filled out and pouting up into the face of her date.

The date had not gone to such extravagant measures. His dress robes were the same color as Aria's dress, but otherwise he looked like he usually did as Aria practically dragged him across the floor to start up a conversation with another Slytherin couple. In between kicking The Rat's shins and scratching his hands with her fingernails, Rose caught snippets of their conversation.

"—And look at that Street Rat, her hair is completely unacceptable."

"—Potter's girl. . .what a little slut. . . Weasley. . ."

"Did you see That Weasley girl? What an ugly dress!" Aria finished rather loudly, glancing fleetingly at Rose, "And her date! I bet they've been snogging all evening. Think that acne's contagious? Sure hope not. I'm not sure I could even look at her now without vomiting, let alone with such a horrid complexion."

Rose's eyes flashed but she didn't acknowledge the comment. The Rat looked at her sympathetically.

"Don't worry, my love, she's simply jealous of the relationship you have with me. But fear not, my heart will always be yours."

Rose, for once, would have been happy to vomit along with Aria.

Through the evening, Rose did some dancing, a good amount of eating, and a lot of trying not to look at her brother and best friend, who were the life of the party.

A Hufflepuff couple waltzed pass Rose as she reached for another éclair. Then a new hand entered her vision and an Irish voice said, "You're lookin' a bit bored Rose? Wanna dance?"

"Thanks, Doyle." She replied, letting him pull her up, "I've been trying to escape from The Rat for a while now."

"Not at all." Her friend replied cheerfully, spinning her around. This was Rose's favorite dance – the one where you twirled round to switch partners. After a few minutes, Doyle let her go to a Hufflepuff boy, and then on to a Ravenclaw Quidditch player, who passed her to Fred…

Who spun her straight into the arms of Scorpius Malfoy.

**-oldsoul**

**you cant always get what you want **

**but if you try sometime**

**you might find**

**you get what you need!**


	8. Under the Bridge

**wooo two chapters in 1 day! **

**we have an aria pov in this chapter for a short while :D**

**hope you enjoy, please r&r**

There was one thing to be sure of. She may not like it, but Scorpius Malfoy was an expert at ballroom dancing.

When Rose forgot to step, he moved them both right on to the next bit of the dance. When she stepped on his heel he turned it into an extra twirl. When she nearly tripped, he caught her discreetly and pulled her back up.

"Oops, sorry." She muttered, accidentally elbowing him in the stomach. The fact that he was so good and she was clumsier than usual was agitating her.

"Don't mind it." Scorpius replied mildly. She stumbled a little but his hand was there on her shoulder blade and he dipped her. Her head was in the exact position to meet his eyes for the first time. His face was neutral and she quickly strove to make hers the same.

That dip lasted way too long.

"Ready?" He asked, referring to the spin that came next.

"Yup." She replied, and proceeded to spin in the opposite direction that he turned her. This resulted in an ungraceful journey to the floor, tripping up the couple to their immediate left who in turn caught the legs of the Ravenclaws near them and disrupted the flow of the entire dance. On the way down, her hand had caught the edge of the punch bowl on the refreshments table, and now she collapsed in a punch-splattered heap, her grandmother's dress ruined and her hair half out of it's do, despite Emory's fixing spell.

All eyes were on Rose.

The mortification was life-consuming.

…..

Aria had been watching from the sidelines for a while now. More specifically, she had been watching a certain young man that just happened to be her date. She saw him pass off the Hufflepuff girl that he'd been dancing with and turn to his next partner. She saw the way his body language changed when he recognized the girl with the crazy red hair and the teal eyes. She saw the way he dipped her, how the teal and the grey met, the breathless moment.

From across the room, Aria Turnpike watched her life slipping away from her. And she knew it was gone. That she'd lost him for good.

She'd known he'd been slipping through her fingers for a while now.

God, she loved that boy. He'd been the first person to speak to her on the Hogwarts Express. A simple, polite, 'Is this seat taken?'

And she'd found herself telling him everything. Everything that she hadn't told anyone else since. About her life on the streets, about her scrounging around for food, about making a normal day's worth of food last a week and a half.

He had listened, and he'd befriended her anyway. Even though she had no home, no money, no family, he'd still taken her in and gone everywhere with her.

Scorpius Malfoy was her first and only friend. Her entire family. Her entire life, all wrapped up into one tall, lanky Slytherin boy with grey eyes that sparkled and messy blond hair who couldn't tie a tie properly.

And here he was looking into the eyes of impossibility, completely oblivious to himself.

But she knew, oh yes. Aria knew that a Slytherin and a Gryffindor, that a Malfoy and a Weasley, that _her _Scorpius and _her_ enemy had both dipped their toes into the pond of a lifetime.

And she also knew that they did not.

…

"A-are you alright?" Scorpius asked, reaching out a hand to help her up. A slight pang of irritation reached him. How clumsy _was_ this girl? The sight of her, drenched in punch and looking utterly ridiculous, was rather amusing, but he mostly suppressed his urge to laugh, although a little chuckle slipped out by accident.

In his mind, he called her 'this girl,' but in reality he knew that she was Rose Weasley, a Gryffindor in her fifth year, that she'd recently turned sixteen, that her favorite color was blue and that her parents and his parents were not exactly on friendly terms.

Rose did not take his outstretched hand. Instead, she stood up shakily and refused to look up at him, thought he could see that her face had morphed into a superb shade of scarlet.

She mumbled something that sounded a bit like, "I'm terribly sorry." before rushing out of the hall, leaving Scorpius standing there amidst a crowd of downed dancers, with drops of punch on his dress shoes.

…..

Panic took hold of Rose as she clamored into the hallway, past the couples who were making out in dark corners, and through the entrance hall into the cool night air.

The sound of the crickets and the cool moisture in the air calmed Rose down a bit. She looked back up at Hogwarts, an intimidating castle that had stood for over three hundred years, looking down from its hilltop onto the world below. What must it be like, to be a bird? Free from troubles like spilling punch on yourself, from things like confusing boys and best friends who were taken with your relatives.

"_Wingardium Leviosa_." Rose whispered, directing the wand at herself.

Keeping herself airborne was more difficult than she'd anticipated – it require superb balance and immense concentration, but she managed to raise herself higher and higher, past the windows and the shingles until she was level with the highest turret of the school. Here she stepped forward onto the cool, flat stone that formed the top of the turret.

It was so nice, so silent, so magical to be up here. She saw the lights of a nearby village down below – Hogsmeade of course. Here on top of the greatest school in the world she was away from all of her troubles.

A breeze fluttered her flyaway hair and she shivered in her wet dress, beginning to wish she'd brought a jacket.

"Oh, do you come up here to watch the Weedlebugs too?" a new voice asked, quite unexpectedly. Rose nearly toppled off of the turret as she spotted the blond hair and the twinkling blue eyes.

"Oh, Professor Lovegood! I didn't see you there."

"Many people don't." Lovegood answered lightly.

"Look, the Weedlebugs are playing." She added, turning her gaze on several small shapes that were flitting about in the night. Rose squinted at them.

"I think those might be bats, Professor."

Lovegood cocked her head at Rose with an amused expression, rather like an owl.

"You're a lot like your mother you know. Intelligent, but narrow minded."

Rose opened her mouth and then closed it again, not quite sure how to respond.

"My father proved the differences between the Juniper Weedlebug and the Common Brown Bat years ago." She went on, but Rose was not convinced.

"Now tell me why you're up here, all alone. You do look rather down, Rose." Lovegood said in an abrupt change of subject.

"Just confused, and I spilled punch on myself at the ball." Rose answered after a moment, bringing her knees up to her chest.

"Oh that's easy." Lovegood pointed her wand at Rose, "_Sourgify_."

Rose felt the punch stain drying on her dress. Why hadn't she thought to use a cleaning spell?

"Thanks, Professor." She acknowledged glumly.

"You know, the puzzles that take longest to put together are often the most beautiful." Lovegood finished. Rose looked up to ask her what she meant, but the professor was gone.

**-oldsoul**

**did u like the aria and scorpie pov? review?**

**.**

**sometimes I feel like**

**I don't have a partner**

**sometimes I feel like**

**my only friend**

**is the city I live in**

**the city of angel**

**lonely as I am**

**together we cry**

**;w;**


	9. Gold on the Ceiling

**short chapter here! but more RosexScorpie **

**and Peeves too!**

**please enjoy! and review!**

"_Expecto Patronum."_ Rose commanded. A silvery substance was leaking out of the end of her wand.

_"Expecto Patronum!_" Thea echoed, shaking her wand in exasperation as her silver wisps dissipated almost as soon as they appeared.

"_Expecto Patronum! Expecto-EXPECTO. . .PATRONUM!_" Rose roared, ignoring the reproachful look her Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Zacharias Smith sent her for shouting in his classroom. This unfavorable expression immediately changed to one of delight as a new form shot out of Rose's wand – something that vaguely resembled a dolphin.

"Well done, Miss Weasley! Look here, everyone – Weasley's managed a corporeal form! Show us again!" Smith instructed. Rose focused hard on her memory of Christmas with her family. How many relatives could she name? Hugo, Lily, James, Al, Fred, Roxie, Teddy, Victoire, Harry, Ginny, Percy…

"_Expecto Patronum!"_ the dolphin appeared again. It did a loop in the air before Rose lost her concentration and it melted away to the polite applause of the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs.

"Excellent!" Smith beamed, "Just work harder on maintaining your focus and it will become much clearer and last longer."

The class reverted back to their earlier attempts at corporeal Patronuses. It was not long before Thea shouted the incantation and achieved a pleasing result.

"Look, Rose I did it! I did it!"

Rose turned her head just in time to see a hedgehog roll once and then disappear. As the class went on, more and more of the students began to get the hang of the spell. A bear cub skirted around Rose and a gazelle jumped over her head.

"Whoops, sorry Morgana!" Harriet called anxiously as her hyper little hummingbird poked a hole through Morgana Ray's calf Patronus and then collided with a stray iguana.

The room became chaos as it filled up with silvery smoke, so much that it was hard to see anything.

"_Expecto Patronum!_" Professor Smith's voice called loudly, and with a bang, the rest of the Patronuses were washed out of existence and the room cleared, replaced by a lone buffalo that stood in the center of the room. With a flick of his wand, Smith dismissed his Patronus and addressed the class.

"Well done, everyone. Your homework, is to practice conjuring a corporeal Patronus – we'll have a skills test next Friday, which will also include getting rid of a boggart as well as the Patronus. In the meantime," he added, "I would like sixteen inches on the characteristics of Dementors by next class."

The Gryffindors groaned, and the Hufflepuffs remained neutral – they usually didn't mind extra homework due to their nature to work hard for everything. Of course, Smith always gave them loads of homework because he was Head of Hufflepuff House and in Rose's opinion, he enjoyed his authority to give out homework a little too much.

"Alright." Smith concluded, looking at his watch, "Out with you, let the Slytherins and Ravenclaws in – I'm sure they're all dying for the chance to practice Patronuses."

"I've already managed a corporeal Patronus." Lavender whispered to Rose proudly as they passed each other in the doorway, "It's a sea turtle."

"Mine's a dolphin." Rose replied.

"And mine's a hedgehog." Thea added, before the people behind them told them irritably to get out of the doorway. They did and Rose and Thea went in separate directions – Rose to Ancient Runes and Thea to History of Magic for a long and boring lecture from Professor Binns.

She was walking down the corridor alone when one of the suit of armor on the wall suddenly rattled loudly, startling Rose so badly that she dropped two of her textbooks.

"Peeves!" She shrieked, "Don't do that! Look, I've spilled ink on my Ancient Runes homework!"

"Not my fault." Peeves's voice emanated sulkily from within the suit of armor. He was obviously in a mood, probably because the Bloody Baron had driven him off from wherever he'd been sneaking around before now.

"It _is_ your fault." Rose snapped, then hurriedly stuffed the homework into her textbook, not having time to argue with the poltergeist for fear she'd be late to her next class.

She was just rounding the corner, still glaring back at Peeves, when her path was impeded by the arrival of another person, who was hurrying so quickly to Smith's classroom that he hadn't seen the redheaded Gryffindor girl in front of him. Both were now on the cold stone floor.

Rose noticed that a lot of her recent encounters with Scorpius Malfoy had involved one or both of them on the floor.

"I'm sorry!" she gasped out, collecting her things for the second time, "I'm sorry I wasn't looking where I was going I should have –"

"No it was my fault." Scorpius rushed, "I was going too fast I should have seen that red hair of yours – here, let me help you." They both scrambled to pick up Rose's leaves of parchment containing her scribbling in Ancient Runes;

"That red hair of mine?" Rose asked haughtily, slightly offended by his tone.

"Oh no, I'm sorry I didn't – I mean I think your hair is nice I-I like your red hair it's…bright and cheerful." He finished meekly. Rose raised an eyebrow.

"You're not poking fun at me, are you?" she asked suspiciously. This was very un-Slytherinlike behavior. Not that she knew any Slytherins personally other than Aria.

"No of course not! I wouldn't. I really do like it!" He yelped, then hurried to change the subject. "Ancient Runes, huh?" Scorpius asked, looking over a bit of the parchment he had picked up, "What does it say?"

"Um…" Rose struggled to read her own writing, "It says…Gellart is a fish and – wait no, sorry! It's talking about the history surrounding Albus Dumbledore and Gellart Grindewald…uh, something I had to translate for class."

It was at that moment that Peeves decided his time would be better spent on the outside of the armor, and now went whizzing over their heads.

"What have we here?" he asked brightly, seeing Rose and Scorpius holding the same sheet of parchment, "Ooh, a scandal! _Rose and Scorpius sitting in a tree!"_ he sang.

"Peeves shut up!" Rose screamed, hastily snatching her parchment away from Scorpius even as the blood rushed to her face, "It's not that at all!"

Peeves only sang louder. "_K-I-S-S-I-N-G! FIRST COME'S LOVE, THEN COMES MARRIAGE THEN COMES –"_ and Rose didn't hear anymore, as she was already halfway to the Ancient Runes classroom by the time he got to the baby in the baby carriage.

**hope you enjoyed!**

**-oldsoul**

**.**

**Gold on the ceiling**

**I ain't blind**

**just a matter of time**

**before you steal it**

**'s alright**

**ain't no guard in my house!**

**.**

**seeing as this chapter is so short, I've included an extra per say at the bottom here.**

**.**

**Rose: Aunt Fleur, what's your Patronus?**

**Fleur: Bah. you shall never know.**

**Rose: Tell me!**

**Fleur: And why should I tell such an nozy leetle squirt like you, hm?**

**Rose: Because if you don't I'll tell Victoire that you're making plans to sabotage Teddy's birthday celebration.**

**Fleur: What ees zees blasphemy?! I would never do zees to 'im! I like Teddy 'e is a good man to my daughter! Such idiocy ees beneath me anyhow.**

**Rose: Tell me what your Patronus is and I won't.**

**Fleur: ****_silence_**

**Rose: Well?**

**Fleur: Well, eef you must know...**

**Rose: Yes?**

**Fleur: Eef you must know...my Patronus, eet ees a jellyfeesh.**

**Rose: ****_a jellyfish_****?!**

**Fleur: Yes! A jellyfeesh. eet ees byootyful to look at, but eef you get too close eet will sing you! Just like I weel sting nozy leetle Rose Weezley eef she tries to tell anyone else what I 'ave told 'er today.**


	10. A Thousand Years

**omg sorry this chapter is a bit uneventful, but next chapter we will be taking a big step so keep reading!**

"Rose you're so lucky you know." Lavender sighed mournfully.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked quzically. It was Saturday and it was also a Hogsmede weekend, and the three girls were sitting in the Three Broomsticks drinking butterbeer.

"Well you get to spend so much time with…with Al you know. You see him at Christmas and in the summer as well as school." Lavender answered bashfully. Rose rolled her eyes.

"You're not still on about him are you?" not that she had anything against her cousin of course, it was just that Lavender was completely taken with him.

"Don't use that tone!" Lavender told her, blushing, "He's a lovely boy."

"A lovely boy? Hm?" Thea asked, amused, "Have you kissed yet?"

Lavender very nearly spewed her butterbeer all over Rose. "I-I'm sorry?"

"Well?" Thea encouraged mischievously. "Have you or haven't you?"

"Oh, Thea, I'm not sure we're quite at that point yet you know. It…those kinds take building up to…" Lavender trailed off. Rose was getting increasingly uncomfortable as this exchange went on, and an unpleasant thought occurred to her.

"You haven't been going around snogging on my brother, have you?" she asked Thea suspiciously. Her friend grinned and winked.

"Only once. In the Gryffindor Common Room. Would you like a blow by blow account? She offered. Rose turned away haughtily.

"I'm fine without one, thank you."

"Your brother has really nice lips you know." Thea continued evilly, loving the position she was putting Rose in. "And he's just the perfect height for kissing. You know how you just want to wrap your arms around someone's neck when you kiss them."

This was too bizarre.

"Rose has never kissed anyone before." Lavender teased.

"Oh, and I suppose you have!"

"Ooh, but I'm sure she'd like to kiss someone." Thea was merciless today. Her green eyes sparkled with mischief. "Tell us Rose."

"I don't like anyone like _that_." Rose informed them, "Boys are stupid anyway."

"Are you _sure_?" Lavender asked, her lips quirking in a grin.

"Quite sure." Rose replied, though as she said it, an image flashed through her mind of green Quidditch robes telling her that her nose was bleeding, and then a pair of grey eyes at a Valentines Ball, and a distinct posh accent that liked her red hair.

"Do tell, Rose." Thea saw right through her, "Come on, don't fight it."

"Well if I did like someone," Rose said, finishing her butterbeer and jumping down off her stool, "It certainly wouldn't be _him_." And that was that.

Rose made her way out of the Three Broomsticks, wandering rather aimlessly through Hogsmede. She briefly considered stopping and getting some candy for herself, but decided against it. When she was on the outskirts of the town, near the Shrieking Shack, Rose was suddenly tackled to the ground by an unknown source. She screamed aloud before reaching out in front of her and grasping at what looked like nothingness.

"James you slimy git! Couldn't you have waited until some little Slytherin third-year walked by?!"

"No." James said, draping the invisibility cloak back over himself so that his voice emanated from what seemed like an innocent nearby rock. "I was getting impatient. Now quick, go somewhere else – here comes that Hufflepuff kid that told me and Hugo off last week for calling his mother ugly. Oh, come on, Rose, it was a joke." He added at her reproachful expression, "Now clear off! I've been wanting to get back at him!"

Rose continued on her way, hearing the muffled oomph that insinuated as soon as the Hufflepuff had reached the spot James was at.

Unbidden, her mind wandered back to several similar 'oomphs' that had occurred previously.

_"__I think your hair is nice, I like your red hair."_ She remembered. And for the first time in a while, Rose had a good long think about Scorpius Malfoy.

It was confusing to say the least. She barely even knew him. She remembered her first day at Hogwarts, how he'd insulted her family, called her a Mudblood. His endless taunts, his arrogance and-and his obvious _Slytherinness_.

And in fourth year it all just…stopped. Like turning off a light switch. They had had one class together that year – Arithmancy, in which they sat at opposite ends of the room and he never so much as turned around to look at her. He no longer taunted her in the hallways. Aria did, of course, but Scorpius had tended to hang back or had disappeared during those confrontations. He no longer laughed at her chicken quills or called her a Mudblood or made like he was so much better. When fifth year had started, it had been the same thing, but now he was on the Quidditch team.

And Rose remembered the Bludger and knowing it was going to catch her full in the face. The feel of her nose on his collarbone, and the first time he'd spoken to her in a year. She knew his voice still cracked sometimes.

And his blond hair had been an utter mess that day on the Quidditch pitch, all windblown from flying. A little bit of blood from Rose's nose had gotten on there somehow. And she'd watched him fall with a flutter of panic – was he dead? Oh shit, was he dead? He'd been in the hospital for two days. Two days that she spent trying hard not to think about him. Malfoy was the enemy! The enemy!

She'd finally succeeded in forgetting about him when the dance came.

Oh god, the dance. Rose's face just burned as she thought about it.

The feeling of elation she'd felt when she found herself staring into his eyes, which she quickly smothered with irritation and a cool demeanor – she'd keep up her dignity even if she tripped horribly.

She remembered hearing him laugh a little upon seeing her fall, with punch all over herself, and that had made her face burn. Maybe she'd thought he'd changed, that he was different than the idiotic snot from the train, that he was nice. But no, he was a Slytherin and a Malfoy, just the same as he'd always been, laughing at her mistakes on the floor.

Her opinion of Scorpius had fallen then, but then the day she'd crashed into him outside of Smith's class. He'd hurried to help her collect herself without any sign of trickery or mocking. And –she swallowed – he liked her hair.

What if she'd pressured him into saying that? What if it wasn't a real compliment, just a common courtesy? What if… what if it wasn't what she thought it was?

Rose recalled her encounter with Professor Lovegood on the roof.

_The puzzles that take the longest to put together are often the most beautiful_.

Well, Scorpius Malfoy had better be beautiful when she got to the end of this, because he sure was difficult to put together.

…..

Meanwhile, Scorpius was also thinking. He was thinking about a Gryffindor girl. A Weasley in particular.

He'd heard bad things about the Weasleys from his parents. About how they were blood traitors, and those with Muggle blood had _always_ been inferior to those with pure wizard blood.

Rose Weasley had since gone against everything his parents had taught him.

Oh sure, she'd been incredibly stuck-up and mouthy, always making fun of him or his mum or his House or anything else she could think of. But he'd learned to tolerate her, and when fourth year came around, they'd seen very little of each other.

Scorpius tried to ignore the little flutter he got whenever he saw the Weasley girl nowadays. He'd been watching her in the hallways all that he could. And in Quidditch. And in classes. But he'd blown it at the ball.

Damn, he should have caught her at the ball.

That was what his mind always came back around to whenever his thoughts involved Rose Weasley. If he'd caught her, he might've avoided ruining his best shoes. Or so he told himself.

"Hey, Scorpius. Ya there?" Aria snapped her fingers in front of Scorpius's face he looked down at her, though his thoughts still lingered on Rose.

Aria had been clinging to him more than usual. When he broached the subject, she'd denied it and he hadn't tried again, but something was bothering her, he knew. And when she slipped her hand into his, somehow, it didn't seem to fit quite as well.

**did you like? review!**

**-oldsoul**

**Heart. beats. fast.**

**colors and promises**

**how to be brave**

**how can I love when i'm afraid**

**to. fall.**


	11. Radioactive

**hi guys! happy Friday! here's chapter 11. I apologize for how short it is, but that's the drawback for having considerable progress in the story! X3**

**I had planned on having Aria do something rather drastic in this chapter, but decided halfway through that it would be better to wait a little bit until Rose and Scorpie got to know each other better so that's the cause of the abrupt change in pov...**

**please enjoy and please review!**

* * *

><p>"Scorpius?" Aria asked in a small voice, looking up at him. He didn't hear her. He was gazing at something else. Or <em>someone<em> else, she realized as she followed his gaze. There was Rose Weasley, chattering obliviously to the Street Rat. Suddenly, she broke off to meet Scorpius's eyes. They just…just _looked_ at each other for a second before Rose smiled and turned back to her Gryffindor friend. Scorpius sent a small smile back.

"Scorpius." Aria repeated loudly, drawing his attention back to her. Good – that was how it should be.

"Hm?"

"Here, you distract it and I'll get the flower." She was referring to the current assignment Longbottom had given them – they were to extract the seeds from the vicious Carnivorous Vivantuim, which was a two-man job due to the aggressive nature of the thing.

Scorpius took up the stick they were using to occupy the Vivantium and jabbed at the jaws of the plant a little reluctantly. It snapped its unfriendly teeth and he quickly drew his hand back.

"Oh, don't be such a wimp!" Aria snarled, wrenching the stick from him and proceeding to provoke the plant herself. "Quick, you get the flower!"

The Vivantium latched onto the other end of the stick and Scorpius reached out for the flower that was behind its jaws. The plant noticed too late that its precious seeds had been taken and only managed to get a mouthful of Scorpius's sleeve instead of his hand.

"Stupid thing." He spat, shaking his arm but to no avail – the Vivantium remained attached.

"_Relecipus!"_ someone said nearby, and the Vivantuim immediately recoiled and let go of the sleeve.

"Th-thanks." Scorpius glanced over at the castor, "Uh…Rose, right?"

Like he didn't know her name, Aria thought irritably.

"Yeah. And you're Scorpius." She grinned from two tables away. Aria was too preoccupied shooting ice daggers from her eyes at the Street Rat to deter Scorpius from interacting with the idiot girl.

"Well…thanks, Rose." He said, a red flush creeping up his neck.

Aria broke eye contact with the Street Rat. "Scorpius!" she reminded him sharply, "Help me get these seeds out."

"Yeah, yeah, calm down." Scorpius grumbled, turning back to their flower. Aria pried the flower open while Scorpius dug out the seeds, getting pulp all over his hands, which was rather nasty.

"That Weasley is such a tease." Aria remarked disdainfully, waiting to see his reaction.

"Uh-huh." He agreed unconvincingly, which was not the kind of response Aria had been wanting to hear.

"Shoulda caught her at the ball." He mumbled a few moments later. Aria looked up quickly.

"Why's that?"

"Oh, um…" Scorpius stumbled, realizing his mistake, "I just…she spilled punch on my nice shoes, that's all."

Aria narrowed her eyes. "Did you think to use _Scourgify_?"

….

"Fifteen. Points." Parkinson glared at Rose, "For cheating."

It was completely unfair!

"But Professor!" Rose protested, something she didn't normally do because it just made her punishment worse, "I wasn't cheating! _He_ stole my paper! I didn't give it to him!" she pointed accusingly at the Slytherin beside her. Parkinson's eyes flashed.

"That's another five for lying and a detention tonight as well."

"But…" Rose trailed off and slumped in her seat, defeated. At the rate Parkinson was going, there wouldn't be any rubies left in the Gryffindor hourglass by the end of the school year.

"Now," the professor continued, addressing the class, "Your instructions are on the board. This is an easy potion for those gifted few…but for others, I'm afraid you'll have to actually try to work for once."

…

By the time Rose got out of her detention, it was fifteen minutes past curfew and the hallway was deserted. She was in a good mood as she'd served detention using the _reparo_ spell on an enormous stack of beat-up, ancient library books with the Grey Lady for company, and the library was a lovely place to be when there was no-one else there but a ghost.

Alone, Rose skipped down the hall, and her skip then morphed into a dance of hops and twirls.

"Not so clumsy when nobody's watching, are you?" a new voice bloomed from ahead.

Which of course, caused her to lose her balance and trip over her own feet. Scorpius caught her on the way down, arm across her collarbone and hand on her shoulder. She hoped he couldn't feel her heart beating wildly in her chest as she was brought upright again to look him in the face.

"Malf – Scorpius!" Rose yelped, "What are you doing here?!" She hadn't meant it to sound so accusatory.

"Coming back from Astronomy. You?"

"Detention." She answered breathlessly.

"Parkinson?"

She nodded, lost in his eyes. Since when had Scorpius Malfoy had such nice eyes?

Since the ball, of course.

But now they were so much warmer, playful and laughing, with a small twinge of shyness.

There was a silent, wonderful moment of just standing and staring. Then Scorpius cleared his throat.

"Can I, um…walk you back to your Common Room?" he asked hopefully.

She was startled back into reality. "Oh—oh yes of course. Um…it's this way, this way."

Without thinking, she took his hand and pulled him towards the Gryffindor Common Room. Then, having realized what she'd done, flushed and made to drop his hand, but he curled his fingers around hers in response and together, a Malfoy and a Weasley walked down the corridor hand in hand.

They reached the fat lady too soon.

"Password?" she asked regally, then upon catching sight of Scorpius, "I'm afraid you'll have to leave, young man. Slytherins are generally not permitted into the Gryffindor Tower…"

"Oh, yes of course." Scorpius rushed, "Sorry."

"Can I ask you something?" Rose cut in, ignoring the fat lady.

"Yeah – yeah sure."

"Did…did your broom really kick you that day on the Quidditch pitch?" she whispered softly. She had to know. Scorpius was silent for a long moment.

"No." he whispered back.

Rose grinned, and then he was gone.

* * *

><p><strong>(squeals!) I love scorpirose<strong>

**-oldsoul**

**.**

**I feel it in my bones**

**enough to make my systems blow**

**welcome to the new age**

**to the new age**

**welcome to the new age**

**to the new age**


	12. Gunpowder 'n' Lead

**hello lovelies, here's chapter 12! it's exciting and long, how convenient.**

**also, I would like to give a reply to BehindtheStars. thank you for your thought-out comments, I know it sucks to leave a comment like that and not hear a reply, so here you are: as far as first year, I realize that I totally flushed it down the toilet, but I was afraid i'd already spent too much time without some scorpirose action, and since eleven year old enemies don't exactly go around snogging each other, I decided to go on and skip ahead so we could get some progress in that department, at the cost of seeming rushed and unconcerned about the time in between. I do apologize. and it wasn't Percy that was killed; it was Fred. Percy actually got married and has kids and stuff but I made him still single :I and short chapters are just the way I write. several people on this and my last account expressed that they think my chapters are too short, but it's just my style, I don't know what to say. I think maybe it comes from having a short attention span. I have an idea for the end of the chapter and I just have to get there quickly. anyway, this chapter is a bit longer than the others. yay!**

**anyway, sorry for keeping you, please enjoy this chapter! and don't forget to review!**

* * *

><p>No longer did Rose try to tell herself that whenever Scorpius was around, she got excited about something else. No longer did she try and ignore him. No longer did she want to forget about him.<p>

Dimly, there was the realization that she'd gone and fallen off the worst possible cliff. That he was everything her family despised – a Slytherin. A Malfoy no less. That they were born enemies.

Wasn't there some Muggle saying about loving your enemy?

Since her detention, she'd spoken to him once more. In Potions class, during which they'd been partnered by Parkinson to make a Felicis Potion.

"No," she corrected him on his wand movement, "It's like this, see? You're flourishing too much." She performed the correct movement with her own wand, and watched Scorpius as he tried to imitate. "No – here. Like this."

She put her hand over his and they moved the wand together. Both blushed visibly.

Now with the correct swishing motion, Scorpius performed the spell on their cauldron, making a reasonably acceptable form of the Felicis Potion.

That had been two days ago, and now she'd Potions again. She'd always despised the class since Parkinson was the teacher, but now she found herself looking forward to it.

Scorpius shot her a quick grin and she returned it wholeheartedly, not aware that Aria was watching with a cold feeling growing in her chest.

…

"Miss Turnpike." Aria turned in the doorway to Longbottom's classroom – she'd been trying to stick with Scorpius and keep him away from Weasley, but the professor beckoned to her as the rest of the students filed out of the room.

Irritably, she watched Scorpius's back as he left, feeling a pang of self-pity, slowly walking over to Longbottom's desk.

"Sit down," he motioned, not looking up from his gradebook, which he was scratching in with an owl quill. Aria perched on one of the nearby tables a little uneasily; if a professor wanted to talk to you in private it usually meant you were failing.

"You're failing my class." Longbottom said matter-of-factly. Aria suppressed a sigh – she really didn't have time for this. Quidditch practice was in fifteen minutes and Longbottom wanted to talk about her grades.

"Is that all?" she asked. Politeness had never been one of her strong points. Of course, now he was getting ready to go on a tangent about how Herbology was not a difficult class and he knew she was capable of more and blah blah blah. Everything she'd heard before.

"Not quite." he finally stopped scrawling in grades and looked at her a little sternly, "You've seemed a bit distracted lately. Something you want to talk about?"

"No." Aria snorted ungratefully. Like she'd ever dream of pouring out her heart to a professor, much less the Head of Gryffindor House.

Longbottom waited, and unbidden, Aria's mind kicked into action. She thought about Scorpius drifting away from her, about the freckled face of Rose Weasley grinning at him, and him grinning back. Overnight, they'd started acknowledging each other. Something had happened. They'd been alone together at some point and she didn't know when. No – that couldn't have happened. She'd been keeping close tabs on both Scorpius and Rose ever since…ever since Scorpius had started showing the symptoms of having caught the Rose Weasley Pox. There was no way they could have had a conversation during the day.

At night then. It had to have been at night. Astronomy class! Of course! That was the only time she wasn't with Scorpius outside of the Slytherin quarters – the entirety of the time he was in Astronomy. Somehow, Weasley had found a way to sneak in and corrupt him at the only possible time when Aria wasn't there to protect him. Damn! All of her careful efforts had been for nothing. Scorpius had fallen face first under Rose's spell.

She couldn't help her lip trembling the slightest little bit. Longbottom was still waiting.

"…Professor?"

She hadn't ordered herself to say it; her mouth had acted of its own accord.

"I'm listening."

"Professor…w-what do you do when – " she swallowed, "— when you love someone but…he loves…someone else?"

There, it was out. She couldn't pretend that she didn't feel better after putting it out there, like a weight lifting from her chest.

Longbottom was silent for a long moment. So long that Aria thought maybe he wasn't going to answer. He had gone back to entering grades, and the scratch of quill on parchment was the only sound in the room.

"I can't pretend to be an expert on this sort of thing." He finally said, chewing the tip of his quill in a way that made him look rather like a nervous first-year. An extremely handsome first year of course, but that was the general impression. "But in my opinion, if you truly love someone… If you truly love them, you will want them to be happy. And if they're happy with someone other than you, then so be it." There was a pause. "I know it's a lot to ask. Especially from –" Longbottom looked up at her and then quickly back down again, and Aria knew he'd been about to say _'especially from a Slytherin.' _Which tweaked her House pride the wrong way.

"Well, especially from someone so young." He smoothed over the hiccup, "But that's no reason not to try."

"What if it's your worst enemy?" she asked, partly because she only wanted to hear his response.

Longbottom looked her in the eye, a bit of amusement twitching at the corners of his mouth.

"Aria, in your life, you will face far worse enemies than Rose Weasley. The important thing is to remember what matters to you."

He did not proceed to explain what mattered, and she was left wondering if her dilemma was really so obvious that he could easily pick out specifics such as Rose from the situation with certainty.

Aria waited a little while longer, and when it became clear Longbottom was finished after this short and awkward exchange, she took her leave without so much as a 'thank you.' She was late to Quidditch Practice, and mentally exhausted to boot, thanks to her Herbology professor.

But this had done nothing to change her feelings towards Rose.

…

"But I've got an E in Transfiguration right now!" Lavender fretted as they walked down the hallway to Charms. Thea rolled her eyes.

"An E is _good_, Lav. I've got a P in Transfiguration."

Rose, who could relate to Lavender's predicament, as she too was rather a worrywart about grades, grimaced in sympathy.

Charms was all the way on the other end of the castle from Arithmancy, and they had to hoof it if they were going to make it there on time. Which meant there was no time to stop and chat with, say, Aria Turnpike.

"Weasley!" Rose turned to see who had called her name, or indeed if anyone was speaking to her at all, as opposed to one of her relatives.

"Yes, you! Weasley!"

"Care to join us, wormie?" Thea asked coldly, spotting her first. Aria elbowed her way through the crowd, a snarl pasted onto her features. This in itself was not unusual, but what was strange was that Aria looked incredibly tired, like she hadn't slept the previous night at all. There were dark circles under her eyes and her hair had been messily pulled into a ponytail instead of its usual braid.

"What do you want, Aria?" Rose asked pointedly, knowing she was probably going to be late to Charms.

"I want…" Aria growled, "I want to duel you."

"To duel me?" Rose asked in surprise, forgetting to sound hostile.

"Yes." Aria confirmed, "To duel you. Tomorrow afternoon at five by the Whomping Willow."

"But…why?" Rose wondered blankly. There'd been arguments between them, shouting matches, snide comments, and even a hex here and there, but never had there been an actual official _duel_. This was rather extreme, even for Aria.

"Because," Aria replied, looking directly at Rose and ignoring the other two, "Then we will finally see who the better woman is."

"The better…" and then it all became clear to Rose. Aria was _jealous_. She was jealous because of the growing relationship between Rose and Scorpius. She felt like Rose was stealing Scorpius away from her, that she wasn't good enough. And so she was challenging Rose partly for the sake of rivalry, and partly out of self-doubt.

"I'll be there." She promised darkly, and then Aria was swept away by the crowd of students, out of sight.

"Rose!" Lavender broke out shrilly, "Are you _insane_?! This…this could get you suspended – expelled even! No really you have to take it back, you mustn't! Go get her and tell her you won't."

Thea was of a different opinion. "Well I think it's the best idea she's had in a long while." She remarked cheerfully, "Oh, I'm looking forward to this."

….

News travelled quickly, and by the time five o'clock of the next day rolled around, Rose was sure the entire school was out there by the Whomping Willow to watch her and Aria duel. In actually, it was mostly Slytherins and Gryffindors. Lavender was there of course, clutching Al's had tightly, and Thea was in a foul mood. She'd been raring to help Rose pummel Aria, but Rose had spurned her by insisting that this argument was between her and the other girl, and she wanted no help from anyone else.

James, Fred, Roxie and Hugo looked mildly interested, and Lily looked on rather disapprovingly – she was quite a sensible witch and did not show extreme emotions on a regular basis.

Of the Slytherins, the only people Rose recognized were all the player from the Slytherin Quidditch team, including Scorpius. She tried to catch his eye several times, hoping to know who he was rooting for, but he wouldn't meet her eyes.

Aria arrived, and Rose's stomach clenched; she didn't want to suffer defeat in front of so many eager spectators. Quickly, she revised her mental arsenal of spells.

A Ravenclaw sixth-year, who seemed to have been chosen as the officiator of the match, waved the crowd back so Aria and Rose were left in their own little bubble, facing each other warily.

"This duel has been staged between the challenger, Aria Turnpike of Slytherin, and the challenged, Rose Weasley of Gryffindor." The Ravenclaw stated regally, "The match will continue until one or both challengers are unable to fight or someone surrenders. No assistance is permitted from an outside source – direct involvement from any spectating persons is strictly prohibited. The only weapons the duelers may use are their wands, and the only spells, hexes, jinxes, or curses allowed are those that are legally permitted by the Ministry of Magic. Breaching of the rules in any way will result in a default loss by the offender. Are there any questions?"

There were none. Rose observed dryly that this whole dueling idea was much more involved than she'd thought. Aria looked ready to spring at any moment, like a cat watching its prey.

"Begin!" the Ravenclaw announced, and immediately there was shouting from the onlookers rooting for their respective favorites. Rose and Aria circled each other cautiously, neither one willing to make the first move.

It was Aria who relented first.

"_Stupefy!"_

Rose had enacted a Shield Charm as soon as she'd seen Aria's wand hand move and the red jet of light was deflected. The girls went back to circling, neither saying a word. Rose knew that she was expected to attack next.

_"__Baubillious!" _she decided to go with something simple. Aria's Shield Charm caught the spell but she didn't see the Stinging Hex Rose had sent next and it hit her on the wrist. Aria hissed with pain.

There was the silver glint of sickles exchanging hands. Rose felt rather proud to know that someone had bet on her getting the first hit. But Aria was enraged now, and the spells flew.

"_Aqua Eructo!"_

_"__Colloshoo!"_

_"__Steleus!"_

_"__Immobulus!"_

_"__Protego!"_

_"__Bombarda!"_ Aria snarled, and Rose was forced to use an advanced Shield Charm to protect herself.

"_Protego Maxima!" _she yelled, _"Depulso!"_

And so it went, back and forth. Aria was a better dueler than Rose had given her credit for, able to attack and defend in quick succession. Both were gifted witches and both had attained minor injuries. They were also tiring rapidly. And with exertion came temper.

Rose and Aria grew increasingly irritated as neither was able to gain the upper hand. They fought with increased vigor, wands flying in a blur, no longer using the incantations for the spells they were casting. The crowd had shuffled back several feet, giving the witches a wide berth, though they still yelled and called out, cheering on the both of them.

Aria was the first to let her temper get the best of her.

"_Setumsempra!"_ the girl shrieked. Rose rushed to erect a shield, and in her hurry cast the spell too close to her own body, throwing herself backwards.

It was not Aria's curse that did much damage – she only received a small cut on her shoulder as the spell nearly missed, but it was the sight of one ancient tree that loomed ever closer as Rose flew through the air. The Whomping Willow opened its branches like arms welcoming her.

Then two voices sounded at once, and neither were Aria's.

One said "_Expelliarmus!_" and both girls' wands spun out of their hands.

The other directed his spell at Rose. "_Immobulus!"_ Hugo shouted, and Rose came to a full stop just barely out of reach of the dreaded tree.

Hugo and James rushed over to retrieve her. Once she'd been unfrozen, safely back on the ground, she saw who it was that had disarmed her. And he was furious.

Neville Longbottom shoved the two wands into the hands of the nearest spectator which happened to be Lily, and then strode over to grab the girls roughly by the hoods of their robes.

"You both are coming with me," he hissed, "To McGonagall's office."

* * *

><p><strong>well? Neville's wrath? McGonagall's wrath? Aria's wrath? review!<strong>

**-oldsoul**

**.**

**i'm goin home gonna load my shotgun**

**wait by the door and light a cigarette**

**she wants a fight well now she's got one**

**and she ain't seen me crazy yet.**


	13. Prodigal Son

**well chapter 13 is the aftermath of chapter 12...**

**hope you enjoy, please review! :3**

* * *

><p>Rose thought it might be a little out of place to tell Neville that he had her by the hood so tightly it was cutting into her neck as she and Aria were literally half-dragged into the castle. Her shoulder hurt terribly where Aria had slashed it and she was having trouble moving it.<p>

She'd never been so deep in trouble so as to be sent to McGonagall's office before. Her mum would be incredibly terrifying. Rose was so caught up in fearing her mum's wrath that she nearly missed Neville raging at Aria.

"Sectum-S_ectumpempra_?!" he spat lividly, glaring at Aria, "What the hell were you thinking?! Where did you even learn that spell?!" His voice was rising as he spoke and he bellowed, "DO YOU KNOW YOU MIGHT'VE KILLED HER?!"

Aria was biting her lip and sent a guilty look towards Rose.

"I thought better of you, Aria." Neville finished coldly, "I think you know what I mean."

And now he rounded on Rose. "And you! You've always been the most levelheaded of my nieces, haven't you?! Were you so eager to get into a scrap that you forgot how serious this might have gotten?! I'm disappointed, Rose."

Rose was compelled to point out that strictly speaking, she wasn't his niece, no matter how many times she'd called him Uncle Neville, and that she thought the level-headed niece award was probably best suited in the hands of Lily, not her. But she held her tongue as they neared McGonagall's office.

"Password?" an ugly-looking gargoyle croaked down at them.

"Licorice Wand." Neville answered darkly, and they were taken up a spiral staircase to emerge in front of an intricate wooden door, at which point Neville had to let go of them so he could knock sharply on the door.

"Enter." Said a muffled voice. Neville stormed in and Rose and Aria followed reluctantly.

The first thing Rose noticed was the sound of a fire crackling in the fireplace. The second thing she noticed was a beautiful orange bird that cocked its head at her quizzically. The third thing she noticed was the presence of many framed portraits on the walls, and she remembered reading in _Hogwarts: A Revised History_ that the headmaster's office housed the portraits of all of their predecessors.

One of the portraits, an ancient man with a long white beard and sky blue robes, smiled at her reassuringly. The nameplate on the frame read 'Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore'. Rose swallowed. This was the legend himself.

"Longbottom?" McGonagall's voice broke into her thoughts as the old witch rose from her desk, looking the three of them over curiously, "What seems to be the trouble?"

"_They_ are the trouble, Professor!" Neville growled, flinging his arm out to point at the girls, though he remained glaring at McGonagall, "Dueling just now. _Dueling!"_

"Dueling?" McGonagall asked sharply, looking first at Neville and then at the students.

"Yes! Dueling! And-and-" Neville spluttered with rage. Rose had never seen him so livid and she was beginning to get quite frightened. Ignoring her cry of pain, he grabbed Rose's left arm and pointed to the cut that had come from Aria's last spell, which had not stopped bleeding. "Do you see this?!"

McGonagall bent down to look at the wound through her bifocals. "That's not Snape's…" she said quietly, trailing off.

"Oh yes it is!" Neville broke in, "She could have died if she'd been hit in the chest! We're lucky, Professor, very lucky."

"Thank you, Neville, that will do." The headmistress said pointedly, then directed her wand at Rose's cut. "Let's see if I still remember how to do this…_Vulnera Sanentur._" She repeated the incantation three times and the most peculiar sensation developed in Rose's shoulder. Like a colony of ants was squirming around all over the cut. It was quite unsettling, but she could now move the arm without too much impediment, though something felt a bit off.

"Don't scratch, Weasley. I know it itches but there's nothing to be done. The rest of it will heal by itself over the next few days and it's probably going to scar a little – I'm not as good at this as Snape was."

The mention of Severus Snape, whom Rose probably knew just as well as her parents from all the things she'd heard, only heightened her curiosity. What was this Sectumsemra spell? It was dark magic, obviously, since her wound wouldn't heal by itself, but what was its story? Was it forbidden? And most importantly, how did Aria know it?

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Longbottom. I shall take it from here." McGonagall was saying in an obvious dismissal. Neville shot one last angry look at the both of them before exiting the room.

"Now then," the headmistress motioned to a chair on the other side of her desk, and conjured another to place beside it. She gestured for them to sit down and took her own seat across from them. Aria's knuckles were white as she gripped the arms of her chair and crossed, then uncrossed her legs. "I suppose we must begin at the beginning. That is to say, _why_ you scheduled this duel in the first place."

She sat back and looked from one witch to the other, waiting. Rose and Aria shared a glance, and there was a mutual understanding that there was no way they were going to share with the headmistress exactly why they had been fighting.

When neither was forthcoming, McGonagall raised one eyebrow expertly. "Please, do enlighten me."

"We've been having a…disagreement." Rose started. Aria glared at her.

"Go on." McGonagall prompted.

"A disagreement about…"

"Potions." Aria supplied. Rose nodded. McGonagall stared them down.

"Very well," the old witch said, eyeing them with severity, "I shall not ask the real reason you saw to take such drastic measures, but I trust it was nothing with illegality."

"No." the both of them replied truthfully.

"Then I must ask," and she spoke now only to Aria, "About the spell you used on Miss Weasley. If I wasn't convinced that you did not know the effects this curse causes when you cast it, I would have you expelled this instant, but I have chosen to give you the benefit of the doubt. Now, if you could please, tell me where you learned it."

Aria shifted uncomfortably and glanced at Rose.

"I'm waiting."

"I…I heard about it from a friend. He said it was a dueling spell. But he…he didn't say it would do…that." Aria allowed, looking at Rose's shoulder.

"Who was it?" McGonagall asked sharply.

"Scorpius Malfoy." Rose answered, sure of herself. McGongall turned to her.

"And how would _you _know?"

"It only makes sense." Rose pointed out, "_She_ learned it from Scorpius, who learned it from Draco Malfoy, who learned it from Severus Snape, who learned it from someone else."

McGonagall watched her for a moment. Then, "Severus didn't learn it from anyone. It was he who invented the spell."

Rose blinked and McGonagall continued. "But that is beside the point, which is that both of you have acted completely irresponsibly by engaging in such dangerous activities. I trust that I will not ever have either of you in here again for like circumstances. As a result, I will be taking one hundred fifty points from Gryffindor and Slytherin each. You will both serve detentions on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the remainder of February and banned from Hogsmede for the rest of the month as well. Weasley, I will be writing home to your parents about this. I hope you both are grateful." She added, "Students have been expelled for less."

Both mumbled something along the signs of "Thank you, Professor" and Rose knew she deserved what she'd gotten, no matter how much it stung.

"Turnpike, you will please return to Slytherin Quarters, and Weasley I want you to report to the hospital wing and have Madam Clearwater take a look at that wound and see if she can do any more with it. I expect both of you to have exemplary behavior from now on." She finished. Aria and Rose consented and left the headmistress in her study, Aria going down to the Great Hall, presumably in the direction of the Slytherin Common Room, and Rose towards the hospital wing, shoulder aching.

"Yes?" Madame Clearwater looked up at Rose through her horn-rimmed glasses as she administered a potion to a Hufflepuff first-year who was looking decidedly purple.

"Professor McGonagall sent me to see you. She wants you to look at my shoulder and see if she healed it properly." Rose answered. Madame Clearwater finished with the first-year and hurried over to Rose, seating her on the nearest bed. She cut away the bit of robe and shirt surrounding the wound. After inspecting the sealed skin with her wand, her eyes widened.

"What spell inflicted this?" she asked. Rose struggled to remember the name.

"It was…Sec…Semtun…"

"Sectumsempra. Yes of course." Cearwater whispered, and proceeded to probe some more with various detection spells all around Rose's shoulder. "Hm," she finally said, clicking her tongue, "The headmistress is a fine witch but I'm afraid she can't compare to a St. Mungo's graduate like myself. A few of your ligaments are still unattached. I'm going to have to reopen the wound and do a little operating."

"Reopen the wound?" Rose asked in a shrill voice.

"Yes, dear, that's what I said. Oh, don't look so pale – I'm going to give you a sleeping potion. You won't feel anything. Here – drink this."

Rose took the cup of indigo liquid into her hand, looking down into it a little uncertainly. She swallowed it all in one go, feeling consciousness slip away from her and Madame Clearwater's face blur in her eyes.

* * *

><p><strong>did you like? <strong>

**-oldsoul**

**.**

**poor boy**

**stood there**

**hung his head and cried**

**poor boy stood and hung his head and cried.**


	14. Common Ground

**dropping the song theme because i'm too lazy to think of songs that even remotely match the situation. feel free to do so yourself, I don't mind X3**

**anyway, chapter 14 we make some progress with scorpirose. I think this story is going to be longer than I originally planned but that's cool with me and so we shall plow on!**

* * *

><p>When Rose awoke, it was a single face that come into view, freckled and grinning.<p>

"Hugo!" she exclaimed in recognition.

"Oh, well spotted!" Hugo remarked cheerily, "How're ya feeling, li'l sis?"

Rose tried to sit up and groaned, falling back onto the infirmary bed. "I think my head is a rock."

"Probably." Hugo agreed, reaching for something on the table beside her bed. "Here, Clearwater said to give this to you if you woke up." He handed her a glass of water and she sipped it gratefully.

It was then that she noticed her entire left sleeve was missing.

"Clearwater cut it off so she could work on you." Hugo explained, "That's a pretty wicked battle scar you've got there.

Rose examined her wound. It seemed to be completely healed and her shoulder worked as well as it had before the incident. There was a silvery white line that cut through the freckles on her shoulder – it was a scar she'd have for the rest of her life. Strangely, she didn't really mind. In fact, she was rather proud to have earned a scar in battle at only fifteen.

"What time is it?" She asked, noting the sunlight streaming through the high windows.

"Somewhere around nine."

"Then why aren't you in class?" Rose yelped, horrified that her brother would skip class for anything.

"Well it is Saturday." He said, as if this should have been painfully obvious.

_"__Saturday?!"_ she screeched. "But…when I got here it was Thursday. You mean I slept all the way through Friday?!"

"Like a log." Hugo confirmed. "You weren't supposed to drink all of that sleeping draught you know. You're meant to only take a sip of the stuff. It's incredibly strong."

"I drank what she gave me!" Rose defended herself indignantly. Hugo only smirked.

"I'd think the daughter of the smartest witch of the century would have done her research."

At the mention of Hermione, another thought occurred to her. "Did McGonagall write to mum and dad already?"

"Mum sent you a Howler at breakfast this morning." He replied, "And since you weren't there to get it, it went and exploded in the oatmeal. You want to hear it?"

"No." she groaned.

"Well, she was pretty pissed." Hugo told her, "Wanted to know just what was so important that you had to go and risk your life for. Actually," he added, "What _were _you two fi—"

"I'm hungry." Rose cut in, partly to avoid the question and partly because she really was starving.

"Breakfast ended hours ago." Hugo raised an eyebrow, knowing that she was deliberately leading him off track, "But the house elves are bound to have something in the kitchens."

…

After a once-over from Clearwater and a scolding for taking so much sleeping draught, Rose had been released from the hospital wing and was now on her way to the library to study for an upcoming Astronomy test.

"Rose!" Lavender shrieked, drawing the attention of many other students in the hallway, "We were so worried! Oh, that awful girl! What if you'd died?!"

"I didn't die, Lav." Rose rolled her eyes but allowed Lavender to throw her arms around her.

"What'd McGonagall do to you?" Thea wondered curiously, arriving at a more relaxed pace than their Ravenclaw friend.

"Nothing drastic. Detention, no Hogsmeade, wrote to my mum, oh and she took a couple of points off."

"More than a couple." Thea grimaced, "Our hourglass is nearly empty. Hufflepuff's still winning. But on the upside, Slytherin have even less than us!"

"Sorry." Rose apologized sheepishly.

"You weren't expelled then? I thought for sure you would be." Lavender said anxiously.

"She can't expel me." Rose pointed out, "I'm the daughter of two of the most renowned people of the wizarding world. Expulsion would be blasphemy."

"Suppose if she couldn't expel you then she couldn't expel wormie either." Thea put in, obviously disappointed.

Rose did not respond with anything more committal than a 'hm', as a new person had caught her eye, someone who dusked his messy white-blond head as soon as she saw he was watching. Rose was taken back to a week ago when they'd stood at the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room, fingers linked. And her heart fluttered like a bird longing to be free.

"Oi – you!" Thea had followed Rose's gaze and was now addressing Scorpius rather harshly, "Buzz off!"

Scorpius buzzed off. Rose hoped he saw her apologetic look as he took off, his head bobbing over everyone else's down the corridor, as he was quite taller than the rest of them.

After a few more exchanged words, Lavender and Thea both headed off to their Common Rooms while Rose went in the direction of the library.

But first, she had someone to catch up with.

"Uh…Scorpius." She tapped him lightly on the shoulder and he turned.

"Hi Rose."

"Hey, sorry about Thea." She said sheepishly, blushing a little, "She's really into House pride and stuff…"

"I don't mind." He replied quietly, "And uh, it's probably me who should be apologizing for friends…" He shifted uncomfortably, "Listen, um, the reason I was hanging around you guys. Well, I wanted to make sure you were alright after…after she used that spell on you. Aria doesn't usually get that worked up."

"I'm fine." she replied lamely. She looked at him shuffling his feet and wondered if he knew they'd been fighting over him. That they'd both gone as far as to risk their lives simply over a little crush Rose had. Maybe her mum was right. Maybe she was too foolish.

"H-hey." Scorpius spoke up, looking at his feet, "You know, there's a Hogsmeade trip next weekend. Do you think…do you think you might want to come with me?" he asked hopefully.

Rose felt the blood rush to her face and all she could do was stand there stupidly and say, "Oh…oh…oh, yeah. Yeah of course!"

It wasn't until she was entering the Common Room several minutes later that she remembered she'd been banned from Hogsmeade.

Rose bit her lip uncomfortably. How could she go back now and tell Scorpius that she couldn't accept his invitation? That she couldn't…go on a date with him.

Then she remembered – of course! There _was_ one way to get around without anyone knowing. Hadn't she been the butt of the joke herself a few months ago?

…..

It had taken quite a bit of convincing to let James lend her his invisibility cloak. He was sure she only wanted it to use it as he had – to tackle unsuspecting by passers and just _knew _she was going to rip it. The idiocy of boys.

Now she slipped out of the castle with the rest of the Hogsmeade students. No one knew she was there and it _was _a bit tempting to pull something on the Hufflepuff right in front of her but Rose knew she'd risk being discovered, and so made it all the way to Hogsmeade without detection.

Once she'd reached the Boar's Head Inn, Rose pulled off the invisibility cloak and stuffed it into her bag – she'd spotted Scorpius.

"Rose!" he exclaimed, catching sight of her, "I didn't see you come out of the castle. I thought you might have…forgotten or something."

"I'd never forget something so lovely." Rose replied, immediately regretting how soppy the words sounded.

"Would you like some butterbeer?" Scorpius asked, nodding to the Three Broomsticks – the most popular hangout spot for Hogwarts students. Rose knew she'd better keep out of sight of Lavender and Thea, lest they ask her what she was up to here. Lavender would no doubt start going off about this serious breach of rules.

"Well I sort of thought…" she started, "I mean the Three Broomsticks is just so crowded. Maybe we could just take a walk or something."

Scorpius was all too happy to oblige and the two of them just strolled through Hogsmeade in comfortable silence. They were on the outskirts of town near the Shrieking Shack, and Rose was very aware of how close Scorpius and she were. He smelled like some sort of masculine scenting and it was not at all unpleasant. Their pinkies were almost touching.

Rose had no more than gotten through this thought when a warm hand wrapped around hers.

"You know that's where they say _he_ lived." Scorpius said softly, nodding at the abandoned house.

"You mean…Voldemort." Rose whispered. She shivered, remembering hearing her parents talking late at night, how they hated to think of their pasts.

"Cold?" Scorpius asked. Rose hadn't been shivering from the cold, but she didn't object when Scorpius undid his green and silver scarf and wrapped it around her. It smelled like him. Somehow, she didn't feel half bad wearing a Slytherin scarf around her neck instead of a Gryffindor one.

"I forgot." He realized what they'd just been talking about. "I shouldn't have brought that up. I'm sorry."

"Do…do your parents talk about it too?" she asked, "When they think you can't hear them?" She knew that his father and grandfather had been supporters of the Dark Lord. Supporters of everything her family loathed and fought against. But she couldn't believe Scorpius was the same. She just couldn't.

"Yes." He whispered, so quietly she might not have heard him, "They do."

"It's horrid." Rose shuddered, then tugged on his sleeve. "Come on. Let's go somewhere else. I don't want to be here anymore."

* * *

><p><strong>that said, please enjoy and remember to review!<strong>

**oooh, a dark first date! tell me whatcha think!**

**-oldsoul**


	15. The Borrower

**short chapter today. apologies.**

**please enjoy and please review!**

* * *

><p>Rose tried her hardest not to look at the couple in the corner of the Common Room who were laughing in between passionate kisses. She had identified one of the kissers as being one particular relative and the other as having a spiky black pixie cut. Neither noticed as Rose slipped up to the dormitory.<p>

Harriet was already there in her pajamas, crooning softly to her fluffy grey kitten, Onion, as he chewed adamantly on one of her bed legs.

"Don't do that, Onion. It's going to make you sick." Harriet scolded gently, pointing her wand at the bed leg, "_Reparo_."

Onion looked forlornly at the repaired wood as he was whisked up by Harriet, who jumped when she saw Rose.

"Oh, hi Rose. Didn't see you there."

"I'm soooo tired." Rose groaned, "Do you know how harsh it is to have Double Arithmancy with the Ravenclaws? I hate Arithmancy and I hate know-it-alls."

Harriet was too kind a girl to point out that Rose was a bit of a know-it-all herself when it came to academics.

Rose changed into her pajamas and flopped down on her bed, which creaked in protest of the sudden roughness.

"I'm going to bed." Rose mumbled from underneath the covers, "Don't let Thea wake me up when she's finished snogging my brother."

…..

Breakfast the next morning found Rose refreshed and one hundred percent prepared for her Charms quiz. She smiled a little shyly at Scorpius over at the Slytherin table and he reciprocated.

"Who're you goggling at over there at the Slytherin table?" Thea asked suspiciously, trying to follow Rose's gaze.

"That girl who just spilled pumpkin juice on herself." Rose answered as a third-year conveniently knocked her juice into her lap at that moment, prompting several of her fellow House members to laugh out loud.

"So Al," she grinned, leaning in across the table, partly to distract Thea from questioning her further, "Have you gotten any further with Lav yet?"

"Snogged a bit?" Thea asked hopefully. Al flushed very brightly and became quite interested in his toast.

"No." the boy squeaked. Thea shook her head in mock disappointment.

"Always so shy, Albus. You need to man up! Make the first move!" she teased. James snorted nearby.

"Al's so innocent." He grinned devilishly, "He could never kiss someone – he'd find it revolting."

"That's not true!" Al said defensively. James smirked.

"Oh yeah? Then go an give that Hufflepuff there a snog." He pointed out a pretty girl at the Hufflepuff table. Al scowled at his brother and went back to finishing his toast.

Rose stopped to catch Scorpius on the way out from breakfast, telling Thea to go on ahead of her up to the dorm to get her things for the day.

There was a brief conversation about Quidditch, but to Rose it was just seeing him so animated when he spoke about the sport, and then grinning into her eyes. He barely noticed when Aria tapped on his shoulder with a scowl, reminding him that the Slytherin Common Room was _that_ way, please and thank you, and then snarled at Rose in a glower that clearly meant she should skive off.

Rose climbed the staircase to the Gryffindor Tower, hopping over the invisible disappearing step in case it had disappeared today and arriving at the fat lady who asked for the password.

"Ummm…Felix Felicis." She remembered. The fat lady swung back obligingly, allowing her into the Common Room.

Rose climbed the stairs to the girl's dormitories. Room 319's door creaked as she opened it.

"Rose." Something in Thea's voice told her to look up. "What's this?"

In her hand was a wad of green and silver fabric – Scorpius's scarf. She'd stuffed it in with the rest of her things after he'd told her she could keep it. She swallowed.

"Why were you going through my stuff?" she asked quietly.

"You said I could borrow your Care of Magical Creatures book, remember? That damn thestral ate mine!" Thea cried angrily, "Now tell me what the hell you're doing with a Slytherin scarf!"

Rose swallowed. "I-I found it."

"Liar!" Thea accused. Rose was not the best at hiding the truth. "Whose is it?"

"It's – It's Sco – Malfoy's."

"You've been hanging around with that rat?!" Thea shouted, "When?! Where?!"

"Doesn't matter!" Rose snapped, "Now give it here. He'll be wanting it back."

"Since when are you so chummy with him, huh?"

"GIVE IT HERE!" Rose screamed, uneasy with Thea's lack of understanding. She hated to think how her friend would react if she knew the true extent of Rose's feelings for Scorpius. "_Accio_ scarf!"

The Slytherin scarf flew from Thea's fingers and Rose snatched it up, turning to march back out the door. Thea slammed her fist to her palm in understanding.

"You were in Hogsmeade, weren't you?!"

Trust Thea.

"No."

"Yes you were. Don't lie, Rose, you're worse than Lav at lying." Thea admonished. Rose didn't say anything. "If you were in Hogsmeade," Thea asked, her voice rising again, "Why didn't you come hang with us? Are we not good enough for you now? Some Gryffindor you are, going to laugh with all your slimy Slytherin friends."

"I only have one Slytherin friend!" Rose shouted back, "And besides, you would have been too busy _getting chummy_ with my brother to make time for me anyway!" it hurt, but it was the truth.

Thea's eyes flashed in true fury. "I wasn't snogging Hugo, Rose!" she snarled, "As a matter of fact, I was helping Al shop for Lavender's birthday, which is _today_ in case you've forgotten!"

Oh shit, she had forgotten. February twenty-sixth was Lavender's birthday.

"Well, seeing you've got _better_ friends to worry about than Lav and I, just make sure you don't forget dear Scorpie's birthday, will you?" Thea growled, reading her like a book.

"I _have_ got a present for Lav!" Rose lied defensively.

"Let's see it then."

"After classes." Rose promised. Thea got to her feet, snapping her bag shut with a click.

"Better think quickly, Rose. I'll be wanting to see it later." She left Rose standing in the dorm, sharing a pleading look with Onion, as though he was the answer to all of her troubles. She looked down at the soft cloth in her hand.

Scorpius would be wanting his scarf back.

* * *

><p><strong>more excitement coming soon! <strong>

**-oldsoul**


	16. The Scorn of Hugo Weasley

**i refuse to apologize for the shortness of this chapter. **

**this came mostly from a suggestion by Cate Ann about Rose and Scorpius on the astronomy tower and so I dedicate this chapter to you, Cate Ann. thanks for all your lovely reviews!**

**oh, and Hugo's middle name is Tonks because I felt like there should be someone named after her since I love her she is awesome :3**

**anyway, please enjoy and please review.**

She was sitting on top of the astronomy tower, looking at the stars. The telescopes stood dark and silent, as if they were standing guard over Hogwarts from Voldemort himself. It was dark, it was cold, and it was windy, but Rose didn't mind. She had her trusty Gryffindor scarf round her neck and her winter coat that was muggle-made but had been enchanted so that it always warmed her up, no matter how harshly the wind howled.

She was feeling rather good about herself, as she had, in the nick of time, managed to take an unused set of quills her mother sent her and charm them so they always wrote neatly and even had a built-in ink dispenser. She had presented this gift to Lavender at dinner, grinning smugly at Thea as she did so.

Things had not cleared up between Thea and Rose yet. They had refused to speak to each other in stony silence, which Harriet and Emory had found rather confusing, as the two usually got along so well.

But Rose was not thinking about that right now, she reminded herself. After all, she'd come up here to get _away_ from Thea.

"Rose!"

Rose jumped comically at the unexpected exclamation – she hadn't heard Scorpius coming up the steps. Now he stood in the doorway, lit up from the light in the corridor behind him.

"Scorpius! Err – what's up?" why was Scorpius Malfoy on the astronomy tower at half-past twelve in the morning?

"I might ask you the same thing." He replied in an amused tone, "As a matter of fact, I've got some Astronomy homework due tomorrow that I forgot about. It was a pain getting past Filch but if I don't get this assignment in my grade will drop."

"Oh." Rose replied stupidly. She'd been too lost staring at him to hear a word he'd just said.

"So…" he prompted, "Are you doing homework as well?"

"What? – Oh! Oh no, I'm just here…just thinking about things," she finished quietly, "That's all."

"Your friend?" Scorpius asked, coming to sit beside her on the edge of the wall. It was at least a hundred foot drop to the ground from where they sat, if Rose leaned back just a little she'd drop like a stone.

"Yeah." Rose whispered in answer to his question. Even if she didn't want to, she _had_ been thinking about Thea.

"I'm sorry if…if she's angry at you because of me." He said timidly, "I don't want to come between you and your friends."

"No." Rose declared with determination. "It's _my_ life, I can like a Slytherin and a Malfoy if I want to."

Suddenly realizing who she was speaking to, Rose covered her mouth in horror. What if he didn't like her in the same way? What if he'd just asked her on a date as a friend?

"Oh _really_?" Scorpius smirked, "And how do you suppose your family feels about that?"

"Screw them." Rose grinned, seeing he was only joking. He hadn't taken it badly then. "How about _your_ family."

She'd messed up again, she realized, automatically assuming that her feelings were reciprocated by teasing him thusly. Rose flushed. Why couldn't she ever get anything right around Scorpius Malfoy?

"I-I'm sorry," she faltered.

"For what?" His grin was a little bit crooked, but all the more perfect for being so.

"Full moon tonight." Rose noticed. In the wizarding world, the full moon was held in great esteem, a symbol of magic.

"You're sorry because it's a full moon?!"

"No!" she protested, but then stopped short because she was once again lost in his eyes. Beautiful grey eyes, so clear and sensitive. So very…Scorpius-like.

It was the fluttering in her stomach, and the slate-colored eyes and the crooked grin. And suddenly Rose knew what was going to come next.

And nothing existed except Scorpius Malfoy and Rose Weasley. Nothing but his lips on hers and the spinning heads. No families, no Houses, no magic.

Scratch that.

Kissing Scorpius was the exact definition of magic.

Her arms were snaking up round his neck, pulling him closer and his hands were tangled in her red hair and it was pure joy to be sitting on top of the Astronomy Tower under the full moon kissing the boy that was supposed to be her enemy. There was something so thrilling about going against her entire family, her entire House, all for the sake of one person. And she loved it.

Neither of them noticed the new set of footsteps that was hurrying up the Astronomy Tower steps – two sets in fact, or the stricken voice that cried "Rose?! _Malfoy_?!" and the cry of "STOP STRANGLING HER!" and the quick scrabbling for a wand, "_Petrificus Totalus!_"

Suddenly, Scorpius was no longer kissing her and something was very wrong. Rose caught Scorpius just before he toppled backwards off the wall down to the ground. His arms were pinned to his sides – a Full Body Bind curse. Only then did Rose look up and recognize the two figures silhouetted in the doorway.

"Hugo? James?" it was Hugo who had his wand out, still pointing it at Scorpius accusingly should he break free of the Body-Bind. In a flash Rose realized what had happened.

"Hugo Tonks Weasley, you release him right now!"

Oh, she was going to _kill _him! She'd teach Hugo Weasley how to ruin a girl's first kiss.

"What do you mean _release him_?!" Hugo looked dumbfounded. "He was strangling you Rose, you should be thanking me!"

"HE WASN'T STRANGLING ME!" Rose bellowed incredulously, "He was – we were – we…"

"They weren't struggling, Hugo." James whispered loudly from behind his cousin. "They were _kissing_."

"They weren't kissing." Hugo declared stubbornly, as if he knew they had been but didn't want to admit it, "That's ridiculous. This is _Malfoy _we're talking about."

"Well it's true." She snapped, "Now undo that curse!"

"Rose, you can't kiss him! He's a Slytherin! He's a Malfoy!"

"If that's all you know about him, you've no right to judge." Rose hissed.

"It's all I need to know about him!" Hugo insisted, "Rose, don't you remember _anything_ about his family? His father was a Death Eater and so was his grandfather."

"So that makes him one as well, does it?" Rose snarled. This enraged her more than anything else. How could Hugo be so shallow? "That's pure idiocy. The Death Eater movement died out ages ago, you know that."

"That's what the Daily Prophet said…" Hugo countered darkly, "I'm not naïve enough to trust any Slytherin. Let alone a Malfoy." His eyes flicked over to Scorpius, still immobilized but listening to everything that was being said, no doubt. When Hugo turned back at his little sister, his look was one of cold disgust. It was a look he reserved purely for Slytherin Scum, for enemies, and to have it turned on her was painful.

"You're an idiot to think he's anything but scum." He breathed. Rose felt the tears come to her eyes but there was no way she was going to cry in front of her brother. They might have their squabbles, but Hugo was someone she looked up to so much, and to have him scorn her like that had shaken her.

James looked helplessly back at Rose as Hugo dragged him away to a loose stone in the floor of the Tower, which let straight into one of the Public Floo Fireplaces in Hogsmeade – clearly, the boys were out to do some scrounging around.

After they were out of sight, the tears fell. What _was _she thinking? A Malfoy and a Weasley could never work. There were too many impediments.

Behind her, Scorpius started to stir as the curse began to wear off. "Rose, I –"

She didn't look back at him as she dashed to the doorway and fled down the steps into the corridor, not caring that Filch might catch her out of bed after hours. The fat lady grumbled at Rose for waking her up, but was a little softer after she saw the state Rose was in and let her into the Common Room after the mumble of "Felix Felicis" could be heard.

She slipped into her dorm room, trying not to wake up the others. God, she was tired.

**yusss! did you like? what will the next move be?**

**and just so you know, I am open to suggestions from anyone, please give me one - I will be happy to consider it!**

**-oldsoul**


	17. Getting Stitches

**huloo darlings. I've had a bit of writers block recently /dies/ and I might not be updating quite as frequently anymore. apologies :(**

**anyway, enjoy chapter 17 and please do review!**

Rose tried very hard to avoid Scorpius over the course of the following week. He in turn respected her space and didn't try to interact with her but once, by which a note was passed to Rose reading:

_I'm sorry_

_-S_

It was Hugo she was worried about right now. Six days had passed since he had found them on the Astronomy Tower, and in that time he had barely looked at Rose except to shoot her accusatory glances, let alone talk to her.

Therefore, it was up to Rose to try an initiate the amends between the siblings.

"Hugo!" she hissed, catching him as he came out of Flitwick's classroom. He turned, trying to identify the source. "Over here."

He saw her and their eyes locked. Rose beckoned urgently to where she was underneath a portrait of several renaissance ladies having tea as they looked down at her disapprovingly from the wall above. Hugo just stood there for a moment, as if he was deciding whether he wanted to talk to Rose or not, before he shook his head and took off after Fred.

It was James she tried the next evening, alone in the Common Room.

"Please James, just try to talk to him okay?" Rose begged. James looked rather helpless.

"Well it _was_ Malfoy" he answered uncertainly. Rose glared.

"Oh, so you're condemning him too now I see." She said icily, tossing back her hair, "How shallow."

"No – Rose come back!" James called as she disappeared down the corridor, "That's not what I meant."

Rose stewed in silence that night. Was Scorpius really worth her time if it was only going to bring her down? Did she care about him so much that she was willing to risk her family for him? It was just a silly crush, after all.

And Rose made up her mind. She would have nothing more to do with Scorpius Malfoy.

If before she had faltered in her efforts to ignore him, now she was determined. She was brusque and refused to look at him when they got stuck sharing a telescope in Astronomy. In Herbology she purposefully chose to work with a Slytherin girl she didn't know when Longbottom told them they had to work with someone from a different House. In Quidditch she shoved him out of the way to get to the Quaffle, and in the Great Hall she sat on the side of the Gryffindor table that faced away from the Slytherins.

The downside was that the longer this went on, the more she felt the need to look at him, to talk to him.

The upside was that Hugo was now beginning to acknowledge her in a way that might not have been favorable, but not unfavorable either. He passed her the pumpkin juice graciously when she asked for it and even helped her _Scourgify_ her parchment when she spilled ink on it.

She successfully approached him after this spillage incident as they were rolling up her scrolls of parchment.

"H-hugo?" Rose swallowed uncertainly. He looked up.

"…Yeah?"

"I just…I…I'm sorry I guess." She mumbled – apologizing was not something that came easily to her. "It won't happen again." She promised in a whisper.

"I'm holding you to that." Hugo said solemnly. Rose nodded stiffly.

"I've made my decision."

….

Two nights later, a message reached Rose in her dormitory in the form of a silent, silvery form that seeped eerily through the door and up to Rose's bed.

"We need to talk." The snow leopard breathed into her ear so as not to wake the others. "Tomorrow night at eleven, tallest turret."

Rose struggled as the big cat curled away into a threadlike wisp that floated out the window. She had no _reason _to go and talk to Scorpius on top of Hogwarts tomorrow night at eleven. In fact, that would be counterproductive to her current efforts, she concluded.

Why, then, did she find herself drifting up the castle twenty-four hours later with a flighty feeling in her stomach?

Was he there already? She wondered, or would he keep her waiting? Did he only want to talk, as he said he did?

Yes.

The answer to that was yes.

Nothing more substantial could possibly happen so soon after the preceding incident.

It transpired that Scorpius was already there on the turret when Rose arrived. When he saw her his face lit up like a lightbulb and he rushed to help her up onto the turret.

"I didn't think you'd come!" he admitted as Rose ignored his offered hand and pulled herself up over the side of the castle. It was quite windy on the highest point of Hogwarts, and Rose remembered a similar night that seemed so very long ago although it had only been a month since the ball.

"Me neither." She allowed curtly as she tried not to shiver. March was not so different from February in Britain, which was not so different from January in itself.

There was a bit of awkward silence in which Rose deliberately did not allow herself a good look at him. She knew what would happen if they locked eyes again, and she'd promised Hugo she was finished with Scorpius.

"You err…wanted to talk?" she prompted, wrapping her hands in her red and gold scarf, as they were starting to get numb. Scorpius jumped as if he had been startled back into the present, which may have been a little too close to Rose's sentiments for the good health of her plan to keep away from him.

"Oh – oh yeah. I…well…I just wanted to apologize…" he stuttered.

"You did that already." Rose pointed out, referring to the note he'd given her. Scorpius sighed.

"Rose," him saying her name sent a tingle down her spine, "I shouldn't have – I mean – I just – I – I pushed it too far." Scorpius looked down at his feet. "My…" and here he flushed, "My feelings for you haven't changed, but I realize what…that kind of thing would do to our family bonds, and if you…don't want to continue then I understand." He finished. Rose dared to look up at him and made the mistake of looking directly into his eyes.

**le gusta? habla a mi por favor!**

**-oldsoul**


	18. Loving Rose

**well at 18 chapters an counting this is officially the longest fanfic ive ever written. but 18 chapters is nothing to brag about...**

**on a slightly more depressing note, this chapter is agonizingly short at 899 words and took me forever and infinity to write. (the frustration!) you guys deserve better but I am just a wooter so yeah. **

**don't ask me what a wooter is. I don't know.**

**anyway, enjoy and review!**

Scorpius Malfoy was not perfect by any means. He was a tad shy and a good bit judgmental, and somewhat passively arrogant in a quiet, refined sort of manner.

This could not be blamed entirely on the boy alone; it was mostly his upbringing that was the source of these faults. Draco had brought his son up to standard with his own beliefs. Sure, things had changed since the dark times of the Death Eaters, but the views of many of the pure-blooded wizarding families in Britain had not.

No longer did they wholly back the teachings of the Dark Lord, but the Malfoys were still most definitely the Slytherin type. They still looked down on Muggle-borns, and they still had a rather haughty air about them as if they were above everybody else. In Draco, this Malfoyishness was very prevalent. In his son to a lesser extent.

The shyness could be attributed to one man entirely, by the name of Lucius Malfoy, who was Scorpius's paternal grandfather. He was proud, regal, and incredibly prejudiced, and his inability to express his ideas on Muggle-related concepts in ways that were not loud and severe was the reason he was not often allowed out further than the grounds of the Malfoy Manor.

The general coldness of the man was enough to tell Scorpius to keep well enough away – even at seventy-two, Lucius Malfoy was quite frightening, and Scorpius dreaded to think how he would react if he stumbled across evidence that his grandson was engaging in such unfavorable activities with Weasley Scum.

He hadn't _asked_ to fall for a Weasley. They were blood-traitors and no longer a pure-blooded wizarding family. Yet somehow, it didn't seem to take away from Rose at all. Yes, she had muggle-blood, she was a Gryffindor, and her parents were not exactly chummy with his, but Scorpius was beginning to think that it didn't make as much a difference as he had been taught to believe.

She looked at him – finally – with her eyes reflecting the starlight and he could tell she was struggling with a decision.

God, what was he doing? He was too selfish. Too selfish to distance himself from Rose Weasley like he knew he should. They were a Malfoy and a Weasley. A relationship like this would only cause their families strife, but he _had_ to see her. To speak to her.

In that moment Scorpius was completely disgusted with himself. Who the hell was he to force her into a decision like this? He couldn't ask her to give up everything just for his sake. She'd lose her friends, her family, even her way of life. For him it would be the same, but he was prepared to face the consequences of…of _loving_ Rose.

It was with great effort that he made himself rise from the cold stone of the turret. She watched him silently, giving away nothing.

"Rose," he said quietly, then faltered, "I know…I mean…I'm sorry. I shouldn't…I'm sorry."

Scorpius turned. Away from her. This entire journey had been a fool's errand. For a month he'd convinced himself it could happen, that they could tempt fate, revolutionize themselves.

Idiot.

He was an idiot.

He ran his hands along the sturdy granite of Hogwarts, feeling the roughness against his skin.

_Goodbye Rose. _

"You're stupid."

Scorpius looked back over his shoulder at Rose. Even in the dark, he imagined he saw the glint of water in her eyes, then flushed a little – her words had hurt his pride just a tad.

"I know."

"If you know," Rose said impatiently, "Then why are you trying so badly to get rid of me?"

Oh shit, now she was crying. What had he done?

"I-I don't understand." He floundered, "Uh, don't…don't cry okay?"

"I'm not crying!" she screeched with tears cutting little streams down her freckles cheeks. A raven flew from the roof nearby, disturbed.

"Well I don't _want_ you to be sorry that you ever knew me!"

"I didn't mean it like that!" Scorpius argued. "I – I'm really happy that I knew you, okay?! But you're not happy you know me! Our families are enemies!"

"Is that how you see it then?!" Rose croaked furiously, "I'm just that Weasley girl, beneath your lofty standards as a pure-blood Malfoy. Is that what I am? Am I just – just a Mudblood to you?!"

Scorpius paled. Instinctively, he reached out and pulled her close. She struggled and cursed, surprisingly strong, but he didn't let her go for reasons unknown to him.

"Don't ever say that." He whispered into her ear, "Don't _ever_ say that."

After a minute, Rose struggled less and less ferociously, until she was just a heap of red hair hiccupping into his chest.

"I'm sorry." Came a muffled voice several moments later. Scorpius couldn't help a small smile.

"Bit of a hothead, huh?"

"I said I was sorry." Rose replied a little indignantly. Her face was read and blotchy and there was a little bit of snot peeking out of her nose, but he'd be damned if Rose Weasley would not retain her dignity in the face of such impediments.

"You're a little bit stupid, you know that?" he said jokingly, and she laughed just a little bit.

"So you're not trying to shake me off anymore?" Rose asked tentatively.

"Never," Scorpius promised.

The only question was whether he'd come to regret it later.

**awwww, we're picking up the pieces. yay!**

**-oldsoul**


End file.
